Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 1 (a) Natural topography

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 1 of the ten Environment & Development Topics in the syllabus for

the Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies (syllabus 7094, Paper2).

It introduces candidates to:

natural topography: the location and characteristics of the main landforms (uplands,

hills, flood plains, deltaic plains and coastal plains) (Topic 1a)

the drainage system (Topic 1b):

the names and locations of the five main rivers

characteristics and formation of the main features of these rivers (flood

plains, meanders, braiding, ox-bow lakes and deltas).

Acknowledgment: The source material used and adapted for this section is from

Banglapedia (Asiatic Society of Bangladesh) and Geography of Bangladesh by Haroun Er

Rashid (University Press Ltd, Dhaka).

Topic 1a: Natural topography Introduction Location

Bangladesh is a transition zone between Southwest and Southeast Asia. Bengal forms the

capstone of an arch formed by the Bay of Bengal, and because of the Tibetan massif to the

north, it is a comparatively narrow land bridge between the subcontinent of India and the

subcontinent of Southeast Asia.

More precisely, Bangladesh stretches latitudinally between 20034' N and 26033' N, and

longitudinally between 88001' E and 92041' E. It is bounded by India on the west (West

Bengal), on the north by Meghalaya and Assam, and on the north-east by Tripura and

Mizoram, and it shares a south-eastern border with Myanmar (Burma) . The Bay of Bengal is

to the south.

Figure1:1 Location of Bangladesh

Some of the largest rivers in the world flow through the country and form the largest delta in

the world.

Topography of Bangladesh

Topography is a configuration of a land surface including its relief and contours, the

distribution of mountains and valleys, the patterns of rivers, and all other natural features that

produce the landscape.

Although Bangladesh is a small country it has considerable topographic diversity.

There are three distinctive natural features in Bangladesh:

a broad alluvial plain subject to frequent flooding

a slightly elevated relatively older plain

a small hill region drained by fast flowing rivers.

Location and characteristics of the main landforms

Bangladesh can be classified into three distinct topographical regions:

Figure 1:2 Physical map of Bangladesh (NB Also see clearer colour map in

Graphosman Atlas)

Tertiary hills

The hills in Bangladesh were formed at the same time that the Himalayan mountains were

formed. Therefore, they are called Hills of Tertiary Age. The hilly areas of the south-eastern

region of Chittagong, the north-eastern hills of Sylhet and the highlands in the north and

northwest are included in this region.

The Chittagong Hills are the only significant hill system in Bangladesh. They rise steeply to

narrow ridges (average 36m wide), with heights between 600 and 900m above sea level. In

between the hilly ridges lie the valleys that generally run north to south. West of the

Chittagong Hills is a narrow, wet coastal plain lying parallel to the shoreline.

The hilly areas of Bangladesh comprise two main kinds of topography:

low hill ranges

high hill or mountain ranges.

Low hill ranges: occur between and outside the high hill ranges. They are mainly formed of unconsolidated sandstone and shale. Their summits are generally less than 300m above sea level (MSL). Most areas are strongly dissected, with short steep slopes.

In the Chittagong region, the topography is deeply eroded and rounded; the valleys are

curved and almost isolated hillocks are common. At the Sitakunda peak, there are several hot

springs. There are five broken ranges of hills between Karnafuli River and the southern tip of

Bangladesh.

High hill or mountain ranges: These comprises an almost parallel ridge running

approximately north-south and with summits reaching 300-1000 m. above sea level.

Keokaradang (1,230 m) situated in Bandarban is the highest peak of Bangladesh. These hills

have steep slopes - generally greater than 40%, often 100% and are subject to landslide

erosion.

Consolidated shales, siltstones and sandstone mainly underlie them. All the mountain ranges

of the Hill Tracts are almost hogback ridges. They rise steeply, and extend in long narrow

ridges, whose tops are barely 30m wide.

The region is characterized by a huge network of trellis and dendritic drainage, consisting of

some major rivers draining into the Bay of Bengal. The major rivers are Karnafuli, Sangu,

Matamuhuri and Feni.

Uplands/Pleistocene Terrace

The Pleistocene Terrace is a bench-like structure bordering an undersea feature. These types

of terraces were formed by the flood of snow-melt water during the Pleistocene epoch about

25,000 years ago. These terraces are slightly elevated from the adjacent active floodplains.

The sediments of these terraces are deeply weathered and strongly oxidized.

Pleistocene uplands, comprising the Barind Tract, the Madhupur Tract and the Tippera

Surface, form three individual blocks in Bangladesh. Pleistocene uplands cover an area of

about 10% of Bangladesh, with an average elevation of more than 15m above mean sea level

(MSL).

Barind Tract: comprises mid and lower western part of Rajshahi division, between the

Ganges and Brahmaputra. In the south, the Barind Tract is an older Pleistocene Terrace

forming a small plateau with a flat or, in some sectors, a slightly undulating surface. This

terrace consists of reddish and yellowish and partially mottled clays and is characterised by a

dendritic drainage pattern.

Figure 1:3 Dendritic drainage patterns

Madhupur Tract: Another Pleistocene upland block in the Bengal Basin, it is located in the

central part of Bangladesh comprising greater Dhaka and Mymensingh districts, between the

courses of the Old Brahmaputra and the Jamuna rivers. Like the Barind Tract it consists

mainly of red coloured and mottled clays. The valleys, mostly flat, are cultivated. The

Madhupur jungle contains Shal trees (Shorea robusta).

Tippera Surface: The area between the Meghna floodplain in the west and the Tripura hills in

the east was uplifted in early recent times. This area of Lalmai terrace consists of red, mottled

clay and has a dendritic drainage pattern. The surface is slightly undulating, except the Lalmai

hills, with heights ranging from 6 to 50m above sea level.

Comprehension Questions

1. Explain the following terms:

topography

Bengal Basin

tertiary hills.

2. How does the topography of the Barind Tract differ from Chittagong Hills?.

Resource Skills Activity

On a map of Bangladesh mark the Pleistocene Terrace.

Recent floodplains

A significant part of Bangladesh (around 90%) is covered by floodplains formed by different

rivers of the country. It is a very important type of landscape in the country in the context of

agriculture and culture. Most of the fertile, cultivable lands belong to this physiographic region,

and the culture of the country is very much influenced by the landscape. The floodplains of

Bangladesh have been divided into 15 sub-units:

Old Himalayan Piedmont Plain

Tista Floodplain

Old Brahmaputra Floodplain

Jamuna (Young Brahmaputra) Floodplain

Haor Basin

Surma-Kushiyara Floodplain

Meghna Floodplain

Ganges River Floodplain

Ganges Tidal Floodplain

Sundarbans

Lower Atrai Basin

Arial Beel

Gopalganj-Khulna Peat Basin

Chittagong Coastal Plain

Northern and Eastern Piedmont Plain.

Old Himalayan Piedmont Plain: This is the gently sloping land at the foot of hills, formed

with alluvial sediments deposited by rivers or streams. A portion of the Old Himalayan

Piedmont Plain stretches into Bangladesh at the north-western corner of the country. This

occupies most of the Dinajpur region. This region is covered by Piedmont sands and gravels,

which were deposited as alluvial fans of the Mahananda and Karatoya rivers.

Tista Floodplain: This is a big sub-region stretching between the Old Himalayan Piedmont

Plain in the west and the right bank of the north-south flowing Brahmaputra in the east. Most

of the land is shallowly flooded during monsoons.

Old Brahmaputra Floodplain: The Old Brahmaputra floodplain stretches from the south-

western corner of the Garo Hills, along the eastern rim of the Madhupur Tract, down to the

Meghna. It exhibits a gentle morphology composed of broad ridges and depressions. The

latter are usually flooded to a depth of more than one meter, whereas the ridges are subject

to shallow flooding only in the monsoon season.

Jamuna (Young Brahmaputra) Floodplain: The right-bank of the Jamuna (once a part of

the Tista floodplain) is part of the bigger floodplain. Several distributaries of the Jamuna flow

through the left-bank floodplain.

Haor Basin: is a large, gentle, depressional feature, bounded by the Old Brahmaputra

floodplain in the west, the Meghalaya Plateau' foothills in the north, Sylhet High Plain in the

east and the Meghna estuarine floodplain on the south.

Surma-Kushiyara Floodplain: comprises the floodplain of rivers draining from the eastern

border towards the Sylhet Basin (Haor Basin). Some small hill and piedmont areas near

Sylhet are included within the boundaries. Elsewhere, the relief generally is smooth,

comprising broad ridges and basins, but it is locally irregular alongside river channels.

Meghna Floodplain: is divided into four sub-regions:

Middle Meghna floodplain: The main channel of the Meghna upstream from its

junction with the Dhaleshwari and Ganges as far as Bhairab Bazar is known as the

Middle Meghna. The floodplain of this river occupies a low-lying landscape of broad

islands and many broad meandering channels.

Lower Meghna floodplain: Southward from the junction of the Meghna and Ganges,

the sediments on the left bank of the lower Meghna comprise mixed alluvium from the

Ganges, Jamuna and Meghna. These deposits are predominantly silt. This floodplain

area has a slightly irregular ridge and basin relief, but also has large mounds used for

settlement and cultivation.

Old Meghna estuarine floodplain: The landscape in this extensive unit is quite

different from that on the river and tidal floodplains. The relief is almost level, with little

difference in elevation between ridges and basins.

Young Meghna estuarine floodplain: This sub-unit occupies almost the level land

within and adjoining the Meghna estuary. It includes both island and mainland areas. New

deposition and erosion are constantly taking place on the margins, continuously altering

the shape of the land areas.

Ganges River Floodplain: Comprises the active floodplain of the Ganges and the adjoining

meander floodplain. The latter mainly comprises a smooth landscape of ridges, basins and

old channels. The relief is locally irregular alongside the present and former river courses,

especially in the west, comprising a rapidly alternating series of linear low ridges and

depressions. The Ganges channel is constantly shifting within its active floodplain, eroding

and depositing large areas of new char land each flood season, but it is less braided than that

of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna.

Ganges Tidal Floodplain: The tidal landscape has a low ridge and a basin relief crossed by

many tidal rivers and creeks. Local differences in height are generally less than 1m compared

with 2-3m on the Ganges floodplain.

Sundarbans: South and southwest of the Ganges tidal floodplain, there is a broad belt of

land, barely above sea level with a height of only 0.91m. This very low land contains the

Sundarbans forest and the reclaimed estates (cultivated land).

Lower Atrai Basin: A small physiographic unit occupies a low-lying area where mixed

sediments from the Atrai and Ganges and from the Barind tract overlie the down-warped

southern edge of the Barind tract. The landscape north of the Atrai is mainly smooth, but

floodplain ridges and extensive basins occur south of the river. Heavy clay soils predominate.

Seasonal flooding was formerly deep, and extensive areas in Chalan beel used to remain wet

throughout the year.

Arial Beel: a large depression lying between the Ganges and the Dhaleshwari south of

Dhaka. Heavy clays occupy almost the whole landscape. Despite the proximity to the two

major river channels, the deep seasonal flooding is predominantly by accumulated rainwater

that is unable to drain into rivers when they are running at high levels. Much of this area

remains wet in the dry season.

Gopalganj-Khulna Peat Basin: occupies a number of low-lying areas between the Ganges

River Floodplain and the Ganges tidal floodplain. Thick deposits of peat occupy perennially

wet basins, but they are covered by clay around the edges. This is the largest peat stock

basin of Bangladesh. The basins are deeply flooded by clear rainwater during the monsoon.

Chittagong Coastal Plain: extends from the Feni River to the mouth of the Matamuhuri

delta. It comprises gently sloping piedmont plains near the hills, river floodplains alongside the

Feni, Karnafuli, Halda and other rivers, tidal floodplains along the lower courses of these

rivers, a small area of a young estuarine floodplain in the north. Sediments near the hills are

mainly silt, locally sandy, with clays more extensive in floodplain basins. The whole of the

mainland area is subjected to flash floods.

Northern and Eastern Piedmont Plains: These plains, which comprise alluvial fans, mainly

have silt or sandy deposits near to the hills, grading into clays in the basin adjoining the

neighboring floodplains. The whole area is subject to flash floods during the rainy season.

Deltaic plains and coastal plains

According to the special characteristics of formation, the flood plains can also be classified

into two types in Bangladesh. They are:

deltaic plains

coastal plains.

Deltaic plains: Geologists predict that the development of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta,

that began some 125 million years ago, is still continuing. The Ganges and Brahmaputra

rivers together with a non-Himalayan river, the Meghna, have built one of the largest deltas in

the world known as the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta or the Bengal Delta. These delta-building

activities of the rivers have contributed to the formation of some 60% of the total Bangladesh

coastline. As the delta is tide dominated, with strong fluvial influence, the sediments were

deposited more on the sea floor rather than redistributed by ocean waves and currents. As a

consequence, the depositional plain rose. While the western inactive delta is relatively old, the

Meghna deltaic plain is geologically very young.

Figure 1:4 The Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta

The delta areas of Bangladesh are densely populated, with a predominance of agricultural

activities due to the high fertility of the soils.

Coastal plains: Relatively rapid changes in landforms due to erosion and sedimentation have

occurred in the coastal areas. Physical evidence of changing conditions is apparent in eroding

riverbanks; areas of new deposition and consequent changes in landforms are also present.

Within the last 200 years, the estuary has gone through changes in shape, channel migration

and southward growth of islands. The coastal areas with mangrove plantations are regularly

inundated during high tide.

Soil ranges from silty loam to silty clay loam. PH varies between 7.5 and 8.2. Due to

environmental factors, the coastal soils are slightly to moderately saline on the surface and

highly saline in sub-surface layers. The saline soils are mainly found in Khulna, Barisal,

Patuakhali, Noakhali and Chittagong districts of the coastal and offshore lands. The coastal

plain zone is the home of the world's largest mangrove ecosystems, the Sundarbans

mangrove forest.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 1 (b) Drainage system

Purpose of this section

This section covers the 'drainage system' of Bangladesh. You will learn:

the names and locations of the five main river systems

the characteristics and the formation of the main features of these rivers - flood

plains, meanders, braiding, ox-bow lakes and deltas.

Introduction

The rivers of Bangladesh are very extensive and affect both the physiography of the country

and the life of the people. Bangladesh is called a land of rivers as it has about 700 rivers

including tributaries. Most of the river drainage basin is located in the neighbouring countries

and forms the Bengal Basin.

Figure 1:5 Bengal Basin

The rivers are not, however, evenly distributed. For instance, they increase in number and

size from the northwest of the northern region to the southeast of the southern region.

In terms of catchment size, river length and volume of discharge, some of these rivers are

amongst the largest on the earth. The rate of water flow through Bangladesh is tremendous.

Moreover, the enormous volume of sediments that the rivers carry to the Bay of Bengal each

year (approximately 2.4 billion tons) builds new land along the sea front, keeping hope alive

for future extension of settlement. Thus, this great river system is the country's principal

resource as well as its greatest hazard.

The main rivers of Bangladesh

The system of the rivers can be divided into five major networks as follows:

Brahmaputra-Jamuna river system

Ganges-Padma river system

Surma-Meghna river system

Tista river system

Karnafuli river system.

Figure 1:5a Activity: Label the five major rivers

Resource Skills Activity

Study a map showing the main rivers of Bangladesh.

1. On Figure 5a, label the 5 major rivers.

2. Then, on an outline map of Bangladesh, draw and name the 5 major rivers.

Brahmaputra-Jamuna river system

The Brahmaputra River is one of the largest rivers in the world, with its basin covering areas

in Tibet, China, India and Bangladesh. At the point where Brahmaputra meets the Tista in

Bangladesh, it is called the Jamuna. The Brahmaputra-Jamuna throughout its broad valley

section in Assam and in Bangladesh is famous for its braided nature, shifting sub-channels,

and for the formation of Chars (sandbars) within the channel.

The Brahmaputra-Jamuna Rivers are 280 kms long within Bangladesh and from 280m to 550

m wide.

How the Brahmaputra River shifted its course

River shifting has been a characteristic feature of the Bengal Basin, affecting small sections

or even an entire river. The most dramatic was the shifting of the courses of the Tista, the old

Brahmaputra. Old Brahmaputra acquired its present course between the Madhupur Tract and

the Barind tract in the year 1787. In that year the river shifted its course and was named the

Jamuna. This shifting followed a major flood in the same year. The severe earthquake

reported from Mymensingh region in 1782 may also have contributed to the uplift of its river

bed which diverted its direction...

The Ganges-Padma river system

In Bangladesh, the Ganges is popularly known as the Padma from its point of entrance at

Manakosa and Durlabhpur unions of Shibganj upazila, Nawabganj district. This name (Padma

or Podda) is sometimes applied to the Ganges as far up as the point at which the Bhagirathi

leaves its right bank.

The Padma is 120 kilometres long and from 4 to 8 km wide. The Ganges-Padma is the major

hydrodynamic system that forms one of the world's largest delta complexes covering a major

portion of the country and also a greater part of West Bengal in India. For a long period of

development of the Ganges Delta, the river shifted southeast and has reached its present

position in the Bengal Basin.

Surma- Meghna river system

The river originates in the hills of Shillong and Meghalaya of India. The downstream of the

Surma river from Ajmiriganj is often referred to as the Meghna.

The Meghna has two distinct parts: the Upper Meghna (Kuliarchar to Shatnol) and the Lower

Meghna (Shatnol to estuary mouth). Sixteen kilometers from Shatnol, the combined flow of

the Ganges and Brahmaputra-Jamuna, known as the Padma, meets the Meghna at an 11 km

wide confluence in the rainy season near Chandpur. From this point southwards, the Meghna

is marked as the Lower Meghna, becoming one of the broadest rivers and largest estuaries in

the world.

The Lower Meghna is the major outlet of the combined Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna

Rivers.

Tista river system

The Bangla name Tista comes from Tri-Srota or three flows (flows of the Karatoya, Atrai and

Jamuneshwari rivers). It originates in Chitamu Lake in the Sikkim Himalayas at an altitude of

about 7,200 m and enters Bangladesh at the Kharibari border of Nilphamari district.

Up to the close of the 18th century, it flowed directly into the Ganges. The excessive rains of

1787 created a vast flood and choked the original Atrai channel. This resulted in the Tista

bursting into the Ghaghat, which at that time was a very small river. After passing through

Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Kurigram and Gaibandha districts, this deluge falls into the Jamuna

south of Chilmari riverport.

The total length of the river is about 315 km, of which nearly 115 km lies within Bangladesh.

The present Tista is the result of land movement, earthquakes, floods and geological

structural changes in the northern part of Bangladesh and the accumulated flows of the

Karaotoya, Atrai and Jamuneshwari rivers.

Karnafuli river system

The Karnafuli River is the largest and most important river in Chittagong and the Chittagong

Hill Tracts, originating in the Lushai hills in Mizoram State of India.

It travels through 180 km of mountainous wilderness making a narrow loop at Rangamati and

then follows a zigzag course before it forms two other prominent loops, the Dhuliachhari and

the Kaptai. The Rangamati and the Dhuliachhari loops are now under the reservoir of the

Kaptai earth-filled dam. After coming out from the Kaptai loop the river follows another

tortuous course through the Sitapahar hill range and flows across the plain of Chittagong after

emerging from the hills near Chandraghona.

The river therefore drains into the Bay of Bengal cutting across several hill ranges. It is

navigable throughout the year by sea-going vessels up to Chittagong Port and by large boats,

shallow draughts and all sorts of freighters and launches up to Kaptai River.

Figure 1:6 Typical river profile and valley cross-sections

Comprehension Questions

1. Explain the terms: drainage system, river discharge, load.

2. Study figure 1:6. Are the rivers of Bangladesh in the upper, middle or lower course?

Give reasons for your answer.

3. Describe, with an example, how a river changes its characteristics when it reaches

the lowland.

4. Why do the rivers deposit their loads in the lowlands of Bangladesh?.

Characteristics and formation of the main features of these rivers Meanders

Figure 1:7 The development of meanders

Figure 1:8 Changing meander patterns on the Mississippi River, USA

A meandering stream is one that consists of alternating bends, giving an S-shaped

appearance. A river tends to eliminate irregularities and forms a smooth gradient from its

source to its base level. As it approaches base level, vertical erosion is replaced by lateral

erosion, and the river widens its bed and valley and develops a sinuous course that forms

exaggerated loops and bends called meanders. There are many meandering rivers in

Bangladesh, especially the Ganges, Meghna and the rivers of Barind tract area e.g. Karatiya,

Gorai.

Figure 1:9 Cross-section of a meander

The water flowing around a bend is fastest on the outside as there is less friction and the

current is swung to the outer bank by centrifugal force. This causes greater erosion at this

point resulting in a concave bank. As this bank is undercut it collapses and forms a river cliff.

Water flowing around the inside bend is much slower and cannot carry all the eroded

material. This material is deposited on the inner bend to form a slip-off slope that is convex in

shape.

Oxbow lakes

An oxbow lake is a crescent-shaped lake formed when a river bank meets across the neck of

a well-developed meander. It is found on the floodplain of a river.

Figure 1:10: The formation of an oxbow lake

When a meander is very pronounced, erosion is concentrated on the outer concave banks.

The continued undercutting and collapse of the outer banks causes the neck of the meander

to become narrower. With continued erosion, and usually in times of flood, the river breaks

through causing the outer banks to merge. The river then flows straight across the neck

leaving a loop of stagnant water. The ends of the former meander silt up and it becomes

sealed off from the main river forming an oxbow lake. These lakes are usually only temporary

features and eventually may fill up with sediment and be colonized by vegetation.

In Bangladesh, oxbow lakes are quite visible in the older floodplains (moribund delta). Locally,

the feature is also known as beel, and jheel. These abandoned channels are rich in organic

matters, because of profuse aquatic vegetation growth in the clay to fine silty-clay sediments.

Usually, oxbow lakes are deeply flooded during the monsoon, either through local rainfall and

runoff water or by river flood. Once the lake gets filled with alluvium, it comes under rice

cultivation.

Flood plains

A flood plain is a wide area of flat, low-lying land either side of a river channel. It is formed by

meanders migrating downstream and is composed of alluvium deposited by repeated

flooding.

Figure 1:11: Cross-section of a flood plain and levees

At times of high discharge, a river carries large amounts of material in suspension. When the

river floods it overflows its banks and the water covers the surrounding flat land. The

increased friction between the water and the land reduces the velocity of the water and the

sediment is deposited.

Every time the river floods, another layer of alluvium is added, forming a flat flood plain. The

heaviest and coarsest material is deposited first along the banks of the river whilst the finer

alluvium is carried further away before being deposited. Repeated flooding results in the

accumulation of the coarse silt next to the river, forming a natural embankment known as a

levee.

Braided streams

A braided stream has multiple channels separated from each other by bars. It is characterised

by a network of constantly shifting channels around channel sandbars. The main channel is

divided into several channels, which meet once, re-divide and again meet each other.

The channel's pattern in a braided stream constantly changes with fluctuations in discharge.

Channel bars, which divide the stream into several channels at low flow, are often submerged

during high flow. Braiding occurs when a river has not enough energy to carry its load. The

river sometimes deposits so much sediment in its channel that it becomes silted up. It is then

forced to split into several channels to find a way through the deposited material. This

braiding often occurs when the river's load varies from season to season.

The Brahmaputra-Jamuna in Bangladesh is a typical example of one of the world's largest

braided rivers. After its entry into Bangladesh, its gradient falls sharply and as a result a

heavy sediment load brought in from the source areas in Nepal, China and India are

deposited in the channel as braid bars, locally known as chars.

During the monsoon most of the chars are submerged and all the braided channels become

one very wide channel, more than 10 km wide in places. Flooding and riverbank erosion

become very prominent during the monsoon.

Deltas

A delta is a low-lying area of landformed at the mouth of a river where the stream loses

velocity and drops part of its sediment load.

Figure 1:12 A delta

As a river enters the sea, its speed is checked suddenly and it begins to deposit its load. A

delta is formed when the load is deposited more quickly than the sea's currents and tides

remove it. Over time, the deposits build upwards and outwards to form a delta. As the delta

grows, sediments accumulate and block the path of the main river forcing it to split into a

number of smaller streams, known as distributaries. Gradually, the delta is colonized by

plants to stabilize it.

The Bengal Delta is a compound delta. The distributaries of two large rivers (Ganges and

Brahmaputra) are linked together to form a compound delta. It lies on the eastern side of the

Indian subcontinent and covers most of Bangladesh and West Bengal in India. Ancient and

modern deltaic plains cover about 65% of Bangladesh and the remaining 35% is alluvial plain

and hilly terrain. The Bengal Delta is one of the most densely populated areas of the world.

The Bengal Delta can be subdivided into moribund, immature, mature and active deltas.

The moribund delta areas are in the south-western part of the country, south of the

Ganges River, where tributaries are highly silted and there are many oxbow lakes.

The immature delta is on the south of the moribund delta and mainly consists of sea

beach and tidally influenced lands. The Sundarbans belongs to this region. Subsidence is

high in the immature delta.

The mature delta part is towards the central part of southern Bangladesh

(Patuakhali, Barguna, etc).

The active delta is situated mainly at the estuary of the Meghna River entering the

Bay of Bengal (Bhola, Hatiya, Sandwip, etc). Regular flooding and the formation of chars

and offshore islands are its characteristics.

Comprehension Questions / Resource Skills Activities

1. Describe in detail the shape of a cross-section of a meander. Explain why it is

asymmetrical in shape.

2. With the aid of labeled diagrams, explain how an oxbow lake is formed.

3. List the characteristics of a flood plain.

4. Draw a labeled diagram to show a braided river.

5. Bangladesh is growing southwards. Explain how this is happening.

6. Copy Figure 1:12. On it name all the features shown.

7. 'Bangladesh is an example of a deltaic plain of three major rivers'. Explain this

statement in your own words.

Looking ahead

Your knowledge of Topic 1 (Physical Features) will be useful when you study other Topics in

the syllabus - for example, Topic 6 (Agriculture). Start to think how the physical features of

Bangladesh are linked to agriculture.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 2 (a) Characteristics of tropical monsoon climate - temperature, rainfall, seasonal variation

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 2 of the ten Environment & Development Topics in the syllabus for

the Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies (syllabus 7094, Paper 1).

It introduces candidates to the:

characteristics of a tropical monsoon climate, including seasonal, temperature and

rainfall variations (Topic 2a)

causes of different types of rainfall (monsoon, depression and thunderstorm), as well

as cyclones (Topic 2b).

Climate is the average state of the atmosphere near the earth's surface over a long span of

time. It refers to many elements including temperature, precipitation, humidity, air pressure,

wind movement and direction. Geographical location (latitude, coastal or continental position)

and physical settings (e.g. mountains) influence the climate of any country. Bangladesh

extends from 20034'N to 26038'N latitude and from 88001'E to 92041'E longitude. It is bordered

by the Himalayas to the north and by the Bay of Bengal to the south.

As the Tropic of Cancer passes through the country, a tropical climate prevails. The

influence of the monsoon wind is so strong that as a whole, the climate of Bangladesh is

known as a tropical monsoon climate.

Topic 2a: Characteristics of a tropical monsoon climate

In brief: characteristics of a tropical monsoon climate

two dry seasons with a low rainfall:

cool and dry (winter)

hot and dry (summer)

rainy season with very high rainfall

high annual temperature (about 260C)

seasonal distribution of rainfall

high annual rainfall (more than 1800 mm)

high humidity

Seasonal variations

Season is the climatic type, at any place, associated with a particular time of the year. The

change of season is mainly due to the change in angle of the earth's axis in relation to the

position of the sun at a particular place.

Bangladesh is called the land of six seasons (Sadartu). It has a tropical climate because of its

physical location. The Bangla calendar year is traditionally divided into six seasons:

Grisma (summer)

Barsa (rainy)

Sarat (autumn)

Hemanta (late autumn)

Shhit (winter)

Basanta (spring).

Each season last on average two months, but some seasons merge into other seasons, while

others are short.

More broadly, Bangladesh has three distinct seasons:

the hot and dry pre-monsoon season, from March to May

the rainy monsoon season, from June to October

the cool and dry winter season, from November to February.

The seasons of Bangladesh regulate its economy, communications, trade and commerce, art

and culture and, in fact, the entire lifestyle of the people.

The influence of the tropical monsoon climate is clearly evident in Bangladesh during the

rainy season and the cool, dry winter season.

Characteristics of the hot and dry pre-monsoon season

high temperature

the occurrence of thunderstorms.

April is usually the hottest month in the country. After April, increasing cloud-cover lowers the

temperature. Wind direction changes from time to time in this season, especially during its

early part. Rainfall which takes place during this time accounts for 10 to 25 percent of the

annual total. This rainfall is caused by thunderstorms.

Characteristics of the rainy monsoon season

very high humidity

heavy rainfall

long consecutive days of rainfall

south to south-westerly winds.

The rainy season coincides with the summer monsoon. Rainfall of this season accounts for

70 to 85 percent of the annual total. This is caused by the tropical depression that enters the

country from the Bay of Bengal.

Characteristics of the cool and dry winter season

low temperature

cool west or northwesterly winds

clear skies

low rainfall.

Average temperature in January varies from 170C in the northwest and northeast of the

country, to 200C-210C in the coastal areas. The minimum temperature in the extreme

northwest in late December and early January can be as low as 30C to 40C.

Comprehension Questions

What are the characteristics of a tropical monsoon climate?

List the differences between the weather conditions of the rainy season and winter

season.

Resource Skills Task

Look at the data below. Construct a climate graph for Dhaka, and on it label the features of a

tropical monsoon climate.

DHAKA J F M A M J J A S O N D

Temp

0C 20 24 28 31 29 30 29 29 29 28 25 21

Rainfall

mm 0 0 0 21 428 348 553 282 361

368 13 0 Total

2374

Temperature variations

Temperature

January is the coldest month in Bangladesh. However, the cold winter air that moves into the

country from the northwestern part of India loses much of its intensity by the time it reaches

the northwestern corner of the country.

Average temperatures in January vary from about 170C in the northwestern and northeastern

parts to 200-210C in the coastal areas. In late December and early January, minimum

temperatures in the extreme northwestern and northeastern parts of the country, such as

Rangpur and Sylhet, are as low as 40C to 70C.

As the winter season progresses into the pre-monsoon hot season, temperatures rise,

reaching the maximum in April, which is the middle of the pre-monsoon hot season. Average

temperatures in April vary from about 270C in the northeast to 300C in the extreme west of

the country. In some places in Rajshahi and Kushtia districts the maximum temperature in

summer season rises up to 400C or more.

After April, the temperature decreases slightly during the summer months, which coincides

with the rainy season. Widespread cloud cover lowers the temperature during the later part of

the pre-monsoon season.

Average temperatures in July vary from about 270C in the southeast to 290C in the northwest

of the country.

Source : Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Rainfall variations

Rainfall

Water that is condensed from the aqueous vapour in the atmosphere and falls in drops from

the sky to the earth is called rain; and the total amount of rain that falls in a particular area

within a certain time is called rainfall. The single most dominant element of the climate of

Bangladesh is the rainfall. Because of the country's location in the tropical monsoon region,

the amount of rainfall is very high.

The rainfall in Bangladesh varies, depending upon season and location. Winter (November

through February) is very dry and accounts for only less than 4% of the annual rainfall.

Rainfall in this season varies from 20 mm in the west and south to 40 mm in the northeast,

which is caused by the westerly disturbances that enter the country from the northwestern

part of India.

Rainfall in the pre-monsoon hot season (March-May) accounts for 10-25% of the total annual

rainfall. The rain in this period is caused by convectional storms (thunderstorm) or

nor’westers (locally called Kal Baishakhi). Average rainfall of this season varies from 200 mm

in the west-central part of the country to 800 mm in the northeast region such as Sylhet and

Chittagong divisions. Higher rainfall in the northeast is caused by the additional effect of the

orographic uplifting provided by the Meghalaya plateau.

The rainy season (June-October) accounts for 70 to 85% of the annual rainfall, which varies

from 70% in the eastern part of the country to about 80% in the southwest, and 85% in the

northwest. The amount of rainfall during this season varies from 1000 mm in the west-central

part of the country to over 2000 mm in the south and northeast. Rainfall in this season is

caused by weak tropical depressions that are brought from the Bay of Bengal into

Bangladesh by the monsoon winds. Again, higher rainfall in the northeast is caused by the

additional uplifting effect of the Meghalaya plateau. After the withdrawal of the wet monsoon,

which usually occurs in mid-October, rainfall diminishes at a rapid pace.

The average annual rainfall in Bangladesh varies from 1500 mm in the west-central part to

over 3000 mm in the northeast and southeast. In Surma Valley and neighbouring hills, the

rainfall is very high. At Sylhet the rainfall average is 4180 mm, near the foot of the abrupt

Meghalaya Plateau at Sunamganj it is 5330 mm, and at Lalakhal 6400 mm, the highest in

Bangladesh.

Source : Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Resource Skills Task

1. Using the data below, construct climate graphs of the following three stations (1999)

to illustrate the varying temperatures and rainfall amounts.

2. Describe the rainfall distribution at each station.

Sylhet J F M A M J J A S

Temperature

0C 21 24 26 28 27 28 29 29 29

Rainfall mm 0 0 49 207 731 472 775 503

253 344 0 0 Total

3334

Rajshahi J F M A M J J A S

Temperature

0C 18 22 27 32 30 30 29 29 28

Rainfall mm 0 0 0 9 144 348 349 354

502 155 1 0 Total

1862

Chittagong J F M A M J J A S O N D

Temperature

0C 21 25 27 30 29 29 29 29 28 28 26 22

Rainfall mm 0 0 0 0 463 879 491 848

203 201 2 107 Total

3194

Resource Skills Task

1. Look at a map in an atlas that shows the average annual rainfall for Bangladesh.

Describe the distribution of the rainfall (comment on the areas which receive the highest

and lowest amounts).

2. Look at a map in an atlas that shows the annual mean temperatures for Bangladesh.

Describe where the highest and lowest temperatures are found.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 2 (b) Factors which contribute to rainfall and cyclones

Purpose of this section

This section explores the causes of different types of rainfall in Bangladesh - monsoon

rainfall, depression rainfall and thunderstorm rainfall - and also of cyclones.

Monsoon rainfall The word 'monsoon' is derived from the Arabic word 'mauism' which means seasons. The wind that changes direction with the change of seasons is known as the monsoon wind. Seasonal changes of this wind direction are caused by the differential heating and cooling of landmass and oceans between summer and winter. The monsoon wind blows from the northeast (towards the sea) in winter (the dry monsoon) and from the southwest (towards the land) in summer (the wet monsoon).

Figure 2.1a The winter monsoon: Distribution of pressure systems and monsoon winds

(January)

During the winter months in the northern hemisphere, the land is colder than the sea and so

a high pressure system develops over the Asian landmass. At the same time, a low pressure

system develops over Australia and the Indian Ocean where it is warmer. Winds blow from

areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. This means that the cold winds from Asia's

high pressure area blow towards the low pressure system in the southern hemisphere. These

are the north-east monsoon winds. Since the wind in this season blows from the land to the

ocean, almost dry conditions prevail and very little rainfall occurs at this time. They are cool

and dry as they blow over the cool land and pick up little moisture.

Figure 2.1b The summer monsoon: Distribution of pressure systems and monsoon

winds (July)

The converse happens during the summer months. The high temperatures of the Asian

landmass create an area of low pressure. At the same time, high pressure develops over the

comparatively cooler Indian Ocean. This difference in pressure causes the winds to flow from

the high-pressure area to the low-pressure area - that is, from the ocean to land area. This

flow of wind is known as the summer monsoon circulation. As a result, the summer monsoon

winds bring in a huge amount of moisture and cause heavy rainfall, especially in Bangladesh

and the neighbouring states of India. It enters Bangladesh in late May or early June.

Depression rainfall

Depressions

A depression is a region of low atmospheric pressure. A depression forms as warm, moist

air from the tropics mixes with cold, dry polar air, producing warm and cold fronts. The warm

air being less dense rises above the cold air to produce the area of low pressure on the

ground. The rising warm air cools rapidly, condensation occurs, clouds form and rain falls

(see Figure 2.2). Depressions occasionally develop over the Indian Ocean or in the Bay of

Bengal. The timing of such depressions coincides with the southwest monsoon wind. During

such depressions, continuous heavy rainfall occurs in Bangladesh for 7 to 10 days. At times

more than two to three weeks of rainfall may occur in Sylhet and Cox's Bazar areas.

Source : Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Figure 2.2 Rain caused by depressions: Section through a depression

Thunderstorm rainfall Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms are tropical storms with thunder and lightning accompanied by heavy rain or

hail. On hot, humid days, the air near to the ground is heated up. As a result, warm moist air

expands and rises rapidly. This rising air cools, condenses into water vapour, forming

cumulonimbus clouds. This results in heavy rainfall (see Figure 2.3). These storm clouds

are usually 5 km wide and 8 km high. Usually an individual thunderstorm is just one 'cell' in a

group of storms, which may be 30 km wide, lasting for more than five hours. A single cell

storm can also become a super storm covering an area of 50 km. This produces large

hailstones, strong winds, thunder and lightning.

In Bangladesh, in early summer during March/April and late monsoon in October/November,

this type of thunderstorm occurs in the evening with great intensity. This is popularly known

as Kal Baishaki in the early summer and Ashshiner Jhor during late monsoon.

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Figure 2.3 Rainfall due to a thunderstorm

Comprehension Questions

1. During which months does Bangladesh receive rainfall from:

a. monsoons

b. depressions

c. thunderstorms?

2. Why do you think depressions form in Bangladesh?

3. Why does a thunderstorm occur?

4. What are the effects of a thunderstorm?

Cylones

Cyclones

A cyclone is a tropical storm or atmospheric turbulence involving circular motion of winds.

Technically, a cyclone is an area of low pressure where strong winds blow around a centre in

an anticlockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and a clockwise direction in the

Southern Hemisphere. Cyclones occurring in the tropical regions are called tropical

cyclones. The tropics can be regarded as the region lying between 300N latitude and 300S

latitude. All the tropical seas of the earth, with the exception of the south Atlantic and

southeast Pacific, give birth to this atmospheric phenomenon known as tropical cyclones.

Bangladesh is part of the humid tropics, with the Himalayas on the north and the funnel-

shaped coast touching the Bay of Bengal on the south. This peculiar geography of

Bangladesh brings not only the life-giving monsoon but also catastrophic cyclones, nor'

westera, tornadoes and floods. The Bay of Bengal is an ideal breeding ground for tropical

cyclones.

Cyclones develop over warm seas when the surface temperature is more than 270C. The air

above the sea is heated, it expands and rises very rapidly creating an area of intense low

pressure. The warm, moist air spirals upwards, condenses and forms clouds and rain. Air

from the surrounding area spirals inwards to replace the rising air. This spinning air can reach

speeds of 200 km/hr and absorbs large amounts of moisture forming cumulonimbus clouds

which result in heavy rain. The cold air then sinks. The center of the cyclone is calm and is

known as the eye (see Figure 2.4).

Among all the atmospheric disturbances, cyclones are the most destructive. The diameter of

a cyclone may range from 300 km to 600 km.

The most striking feature of a cyclone is its 'eye'. The can be seen clearly in satellite pictures

case of a well-developed cyclone. is small and almost circular; it coincides with area lowest

pressure has diameter ranging from 8 km to 50 km. warmer than rest storm area. more

violent storm, eye. winds are very light eye, usually not 25 30/hr rain practically absent.

contrast, strongest heaviest occur just outside this central eye.

The life cycle of a cyclone ends soon after the cyclone reaches land ('landfall'), because it is

cut off from its moisture source.

In addition to the waves associated with winds, abrupt surges of water known as storm

surges are associated with cyclones. They strike the coast nearly at the same time that the

centre of the storm crosses the coast. In Bangladesh the maximum value of this storm surge

has been reported to be as high as 13m. Most of the damage during a cyclone is done by the

storm surges, which sometimes wash over entire offshore and large areas on the coast.

The most destructive element of a cyclone is its accompanying surge. There is little that can

withstand a great mass of onrushing water often as high as 6m. In Bangladesh, cyclones

occur in April-May and also in September-December. On an average, five severe cyclonic

storms hit Bangladesh every year and the accompanying surge can reach as far as 200 km

inland. Surge-heights increase with the increase of wind speed. Astronomical tides in

combination with cyclonic surges lead to higher water levels and hence severe flooding.

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Figure 2.4 Cross-section through a cyclone

Comprehension Questions

1. Describe the weather conditions as a cyclone passes overhead.

2. When do storm surges strike the coast?

Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. Why do you think a cyclone is termed as a 'disaster'?

2. What are the adverse effects caused by a cyclone?

Figure 2.5 Cyclone affected areas of Bangladesh

Resource Skills Task

1. Study the map above. Name two high- risk areas to be hit by cyclones. What will the

surge heights be in those areas?

2. How far inland is likely to be affected by a cyclone?

3. Is Dhaka likely to be affected by a cyclone? Justify your answer.

Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal

The funnel-shaped coast near the Bay of Bengal very often becomes the landing ground of

cyclones. The Bay cyclones also move towards the eastern coast of India, towards Myanmar

and occasionally into Sri Lanka. But they cause the maximum damage when they come into

Bangladesh. This is because of:

the low flat terrain

high density of population

poorly built houses.

Most of the damage caused by the cyclones occur in the coastal regions of Khulna,

Patuakhali, Barisal, Noakhali and Chittagong and the offshore islands of Bhola, Hatiya,

Sandwip, Manpura, Kutubdia, Maheshkhali, Nijhum Dwip, Urir Char and other newly formed

islands.

From 1981 to 1985, 174 severe cyclones (with winds speeds of more than 54 km/hr) formed

in the Bay of Bengal. The monthwise occurrence is as follows:

Figure 2.6: Frequency of cyclones in Bangladesh

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

It is apparent from figure 2.6 that severe cyclones occur mostly during pre-monsoon (April-

May) and post-monsoon (September-December) periods and they are the ones that cause

the most destruction.

Resource Skills Task/ Discussion Questions

Look at the graph above.

1. In which month is the frequency of cyclones the highest in Bangladesh? Explain why most

cyclones happen then.

2. In which three months are there the least amount of cyclones? Why do you think this is so?

Looking ahead

Your knowledge of Topic 2 (Climate) will useful when you study other Topics in the syllabus -

for example, Topic 4 (Environmental Challenges) and Topic 6 (Agriculture). Start to think how

climate is linked to these other Topics.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 3 (a) Forests and Biomass

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 3 of the ten Environment & Development Topics in the syllabus for

the Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies (syllabus 7094, Paper 2).

It introduces students to the importance of the following natural resources to Bangladesh and

to its sustainable development:

forests and biomass (Topic 3a)

fish (Topic 3b)

water (Topic 3c)

minerals (Topic 3d).

Acknowledgment: The source material used and adapted for this section is from

Banglapedia (Asiatic Society of Bangladesh) and Geography of Bangladesh by Haroun Er

Rashid (University Press Ltd, Dhaka).

Introduction: natural resources

The people of Bangladesh are dependent on the natural resources of the country. In every

aspect of life, we find various uses of these resources. However, many of these resources are

non-renewable -- that is, once they are depleted they are lost to us forever. Thus, it is

important that our resources are used carefully and in ways that prolong their availability. This

is why we need the sustainable development of resources.

Discussion/Reflection Task

Discuss or find out what the following terms mean:

natural resource

sustainable development

Topic 3a: Forests and biomass

The tropical climate and fertile soil provide favourable conditions for the growth of natural

vegetation in Bangladesh. Forestry is one of the main, non-renewable resources in

Bangladesh, which contributes to the economic and ecological stability.

Forests are vital for maintaining the earth's ecological balance. They are essential for the

stabilisation of the global climate and the management of land and water. Forests shelter

innumerable species of organisms, all of which have roles in the ecological system.

Forests also provide products for consumption by humans and animals. Many lives are

dependent on the availability of this resource, as they provide a valuable source of income.

Most of the forest products are used as biomass (organic matter) energy (discussed later in

this chapter).

However, today, with the increasing population, the forest resources have shrunk at an

alarming rate. They are being removed to make room for homes and crops, and for fuel and

industrial products. Thus, forests are a resource that is being constantly depleted.

Types and distribution of forests

Figure 3.1 Areas of forest in Bangladesh (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of

Bangladesh)

Even in such a small country as Bangladesh, there are a wide variety of forests. The forests

of Bangladesh can be divided into five main types:

tropical wet evergreen

tropical semi-evergreen

tropical moist deciduous

tidal

plantations

Tropical wet evergreen forests

Here, evergreen plants dominate with a rich biodiversity, although there are also a few semi-

evergreen and deciduous trees. These forests are located in the hilly areas of Chittagong,

Chittagong Hill Tracts, Cox's Bazaar in the South East, and Maulvi Bazaar in the North East.

The top canopy trees reach a height of about 45 to 62 metres. Nearly 700 species of

flowering plants inhabit these forests.

Tropical semi-evergreen forests

These are generally evergreen in nature but deciduous trees are also evident. These forests

can be found in the hilly regions of Sylhet through Chittagong, the Chittagong Hill Tracts,

Cox's Bazaar and also in some parts of Dinajpur in the North West. There are over 800

species of flowering plants, and there is generally more undergrowth than in evergreen

forests. The top canopy trees reach a height of about 25 to 57 metres.

Tropical moist deciduous forests

These are locally known as the sal forest, as sal (Shorea robusta) is the most dominant

species. These forests can be found in Dhaka, Mymensingh, Dinajpur and Comilla. They

fall into two distinct belts:

the larger belt, 80 km long and 7-20 km wide, lies between the rivers Brahmaputra

and Jamuna

the smaller belt, 60 km long and 1.5-10 km wide, lies along the foothills of the Garo

Hills of India in Sherpur district.

There are also some smaller patches of forest area scattered across areas in Rangpur,

Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Naogaon districts and in some areas of Shalbanbihar, Mainamati

and Rajeshpur in the Comilla district.

These forests have a good amount of undergrowth and the top canopy reaches a height of

about 10 to 20 metres.

Tidal forests

These forests are situated in Khulna, Patuakhali, Noakhali and Chittagong along the coastal

regions. In addition to the Sundarbans, many small islands in the mouth of the Ganges delta

are densely covered with tidal forests. They are considered the most productive forest type in

Bangladesh.

The mangrove trees have pneumatophorus roots (which rise above the ground or water) and

are evergreen in nature. Turbidity and the salinity of the water in the coastal zones determine

the species that are present.

In addition to the above forests, there are certain forest types localised to particular habitat

conditions:

beach or littoral forests: occurring along the sea beaches of Cox's Bazaar,

Chittagong, Barisal and Patuakhali

fresh water swamp forests: occurring in low-lying water areas in Sylhet and

Sunamganj.

Figure 3.2 Mangroves trees along the coastal areas (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic

Society of Bangladesh)

Research Task and Reflection / Discussion Questions

Discuss or find out what the following terms mean:

1. Look at Figure 3.2 showing a mangrove tree. Why do you think the roots rise above

the ground or water?

2. Find out more about these trees.

Plantations

These forests have been artificially planted. Until 1920, these ventures were confined to the

Chittagong Hill Tracts. They were then extended to Chittagong and Sylhet. Both the state and

private homesteads undertake such activities, and at present 160 species are known to occur

in homestead forests.

Uses of the forest resources

Through the ages, the people of Bangladesh have used the natural resources that they find in

the forests. Over time, the needs of the people have changed and they have found new ways

to utilise the resources to satisfy their varying needs. Most of the uses of the forest come from

the use of the biomass to be found in it.

Biomass

Biomass is the term used to describe all the organic matter (plant and animal material) that

exists on the earth's surface. 99% of all biomass on the earth is plant material. It is often

defined as the total mass of living organisms, mainly plant tissue, per unit-area. Biomass is

the simplest form of energy source and is still the main source of domestic energy for more

than half the world's population. There are three types of energy from biomass:

solid biomass: the use of trees, crop residues, animal and human waste, household

or industrial residues for direct combustion to provide heat

biogas: is obtained by anaerobically (in an air-free environment) digesting organic

material to produce a combustible gas known as methane - e.g. from animal waste (dung)

liquid biofuels: are obtained by subjecting organic materials to one of various

chemical or physical process to produce a usable, combustible, liquid fuel - e.g. vegetable

oils or ethanol (from sugar cane).

The use of energy in rural households and factories in Bangladesh is dominated by traditional

energy sources -- i.e. biomass -- in various forms. They supply 65% of the total energy

consumption and are based on agricultural residues (41%), animal dung (15%) and wood fuel

(9%).

Almost all rural households use biomass for cooking. Such biomass includes dry leaves,

wood fuel, agro-waste, rice husk, sawdust, cow-dung cake, biogas, jute stick, sugarcane

bagasse (sugarcane residue remaining after sugar is extracted) and non-woody crops grown

as a source of solid biomass.

Other uses

Other uses of forest products include:

house construction and building materials

furniture and fixtures

transport equipment: wood is the main component in constructing almost all rural

transport vehicles. Wood is also used in many modern city vehicles.

traditional agricultural implements

pulp, paper and newsprint: pulp, newsprint and paper manufacturing are the most

important of all the forest-based industries in Bangladesh. The majority of the paper mills

in the country use wood or bamboo pulp for their production.

wood-based panel products: this is the production of various wood products such

as hardboards, particle boards, plywood tea chests, windows and doors

fuel and firewood: in Bangladesh more than 80% of the total fuel and firewood are

obtained from the forests. Of this, nearly 85% is used in the rural areas and the rest is

used in the cities. Besides being used as domestic wood fuel, it is used in small industries

such as brickworks.

rubber products: latex is tapped from rubber plants, and raw rubber is supplied to

rubber manufacturers to make various items such as footwear and vehicle tyres.

other miscellaneous products:

matches

stationery products

toys

electrical and telephone poles

accessories for textile and jute mills.

golpata, collected from the Sundarbans, is used for roofing purposes/li>

non-timber forest products: there are many small, private and government

industries which are dependent on these non-timber products:

bamboo is used for making houses and furniture

sungrass is used for roofing and thatching

plants from the forests also find uses in herbal medicines.

Discussion/Reflection Task

Look around you and list all the different forest products that you can see.

Some issues for sustainable development

Below is just one example of a threat to forests and an increase in pollution - in this case, the

human need to cook and to farm land - followed by a solution.

The problem: The vast majority of the country's urban and rural households depend on wood

fuel, the annual consumption of which is about 40 million tons, for cooking. This is causing

fast depletion of the forest reserves of the country and has become a threat to the ecological

balance.

There are also huge - and competing - needs for cow dung. It can be burned and used as

energy or it can be used in the field as a fertilizer. The problem with the direct burning of cow-

dung is that it causes a total loss of fertilizer and it also pollutes the atmosphere. Likewise,

applying it to the field as a fertilizer causes a total loss of fuel and also pollutes the

atmosphere.

One solution: A sustainable use of cow dung is the production of biogas through biogas

digesters, using anaerobic digestion, which not only guarantees pollution-free environment

and a clear, renewable energy source, but also provides treated slurry for use as a fertilizer.

Bangladesh has great potential for the development of biogas technology. If 50% of the cattle

waste were used for biogas production, it would be possible to set up about 1.36 million

biogas digesters, each with a capacity of 3 cu.m.

A biogas digester of 3 cu.m capacity can provide the energy requirements for cooking and

lighting for a family of 7-8 members. Such a digester requires 60-70 kg of cow dung, which

can easily be obtained from 5-6 cattle or 3-4 buffaloes. Besides the benefits of energy, the

treated slurry can be used as fertilizer. Low-cost designs of biogas digesters are now

available.

Figure 3.3 Forests are a home to many exotic species such as the spotted deer

(source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 3 (b): Fish

Purpose of this section

This section explores inland and marine fishing in Bangladesh - including the main fishing

methods, types of fish caught and developments such as aquaculture.

There are two types of fisheries:

inland fishing (about 70%)

marine fishing, including brackish water (about 30%).

Apart from fish, marine life resources of Bangladesh include shrimps, lobsters, turtles and

other crustaceans.

Inland fishing

As well as fishing in rivers, it is common practice to rear fish in closed water bodies such as

ponds and lakes. Such ventures yield about 30% of the total annual fish production in the

country.

Main fishing methods

For fishing in shallow waters, fishermen make rafts with various local names such as

bhela, bhera, chali, bhura.

Although people usually use various tools and equipment to catch the fish, there are

some who still use their bare hands.

There are others who use crude tools to 'wind' the fish and bring them in. These are

known by their local names -- ek kata, tekata, anchra, and koch.

The typical line method is also quite common, while others use forms of traps made

usually from bamboo. Some local names of these traps are chai, bega and chandi bair.

Nets of various sizes and shapes are also used, with varying size of the mesh. The

type of net used depends also on the location in the water where it is placed. You can see

photos of fishing using nets in the printed version of Banglapedia 4, page 153.

Types of inland fish caught

There are about 267 species that are known to belong to the inland fisheries. Of these, the

main commercial ones are Silver Carp, Grass Carp, Common Carp, Tilapia, Catfish, Thai

Pangas and Sor Puti.

Types of inland fisheries Fish types

Rivers Sundarbans Beels Flood Plains Boars Ponds Kaptai

Lake Shrimp farms

Major carps 1187 - 1335 7664 475 77461 231 - Exotic carps - - - - 429 7815 - - Other carps 1024 - 1587 - 1 2047 288 - Catfish 3352 - 4397 2947 1 3078 415 - Snakehead - - 433 16511 54 9698 35 - Hilsa 77577 974 - - - - - - Shrimp (large) 1141 540 - - - - - 12400 Shrimp (small) 17662 255 2376 13725 15 672 - 5489 Miscellaneous inland fish 81836 6297 35116 125096 263 41987 3117 7359

Figure 3.4 Types of fish caught in inland fisheries (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic

Society of Bangladesh)

Figure 3.5 Some inland fish (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Other fish cultures and developments

Other fish culture techniques that have been developed locally include the poultry-cum-fish

culture, integrated rice-fish culture, and various polycultures.

In the tidal areas of Bagerhat, Khulna, and Satkira and in the mangrove forests of Chakoria

and Teknaf, a rotation of aquaculture and agriculture is practiced. During times of high

salinity, marine shrimp and fin-fishes are cultured. In times of low salinity, the areas are

used to grow paddy rice. This practice is known locally as the bheri/gher culture. Some

farmers may even combine freshwater prawn and other fishes such as Tilapia, Carp and Thai

Puti. In Chittagong, shrimp and salt production are alternated in a similar manner.

Scope for increasing fish production

Integrated farming systems, development of nutritious fish feed, improvement of breeding

techniques and new culture practices for indigenous and endangered species will help to

increase the annual production of this sector in the future. Genetically engineered species,

leading to the genetic development of the cultures, along with the development of aquaculture

in derelict ponds, irrigation canals, roadside ditches and floodplains, may further augment the

fish production in the country.

Marine fishing

Bangladesh is bounded by the Bay of Bengal to the south, with a coastline of about 480 km.

Bangladesh has a territorial water of about 20 nautical km from the coast, and then an

exclusive economic zone, which extends about 320 nautical km from the territorial waters.

Therefore, the area of the marine fisheries zone is more than 200,000 sq.km.

This vast area needs proper exploration, exploitation, conservation and management. The

potential of the Bay of Bengal in terms of fish and shrimp production is speculated to be more

than 1,57,000 million tons per year. Annually, 350,000 to 400,000 million tons of marine fish

and shrimp are harvested in Bangladesh.

Due to the absence of ocean current in the Bay of Bengal, there is no nutrient recycling

process. A great volume of fresh water, together with a huge mass of organic and inorganic

nutrients, is added to the Bay of Bengal annually by the combined flow of the Ganges, the

Brahmaputra and the Meghna. This mixing of fresh and marine waters into the shelf area

creates one of the world's biggest brackish-water zones, which produces an environment for

the fish to thrive.

There is a marine fish harbour at Chittagong, and fish landing centres at Cox's Bazar, Barisal,

Khepupara, Patharghata and Khulna for marine catches.

Main fishing methods

Most of the fish are caught by traditional fishing boats or mechanized boats, with the

help of fixed and drift gill nets, set bag nets, and long lines.

There are three types of fishing craft made traditionally in Bangladesh: balams for

marine water, and dinghies and chandies for brackish waters.

For fishing in the open seas, fishing vessels (such as side trawlers, stern trawlers,

beam trawlers, wet fish trawlers and freezer trawlers) with powerful engines are

constructed, equipped with machinery for bringing in large catches. You can see a picture

of fishing trawlers in the printed version of Banglapedia 4, page 153.

Types of marine fish caught

Marine fish can be classified as Pelagic or Demersal:

Pelagic fish Demersal fish Habitat Upper zone of sea On/near bottom of sea Examples Mackerel, Dogfish, Shark (small variety) Jawfish, Catfish, Goatfish

Although the Bay of Bengal has about 442 species of marine fish, only about 20 species are

harvested commercially.

Some 24 species of shark are found in the marine waters of Bangladesh. Sharks come as a

by-catch in the fishermen's nets. Sharks are not a primary target species in marine fishing.

Nonetheless, Bangladesh exported about 212m tons of shark fin and fish maws worth

Tk.166.00 million (U.S.$ 3.5 million) in 1994-95. Tribal people also eat shark meat and fin.

Marine shrimp fishing

In Bangladesh about 125,000 hectares of coastal area are now under shrimp cultivation.

Marine shrimps provide a livelihood to thousands of people, and the country earns about 270

million US dollars a year from shrimp export.

Banana shrimps, White shrimps, Green Tiger shrimps, Brown shrimps and Tiger shrimps are

of commercial importance. They are caught mainly along the coast of Cox’s Bazar and

Khulna, with Tiger shrimps in particular abundance to the south west of St. Martin's Island.

The warm tropical climate, with nutrient-rich saline water along the continental shelf, provides

favourable conditions for the rapid growth and development of the shrimps. Small-scale

fishing craft, such as traditional and motorised boats, use set bag nets, trammel nets, beach

seines, long lines and gill nets to catch shrimps.

Shrimp larvae are also caught along the coast of Cox's Bazar and Khulna in the thousands of

fine-meshed push nets, fixed bag nets and dragnets, putting the sustainability of shrimp

stocks at risk.

Figure 3.6 Various fish caught in marine fisheries as a percentage of total marine

production (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Figure 3.7 Some marine fish (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Developments: traditional fishing

Marine fishing industries in Bangladesh are still predominantly traditional. During the last 40

years, an engine was fixed to traditional fishing boats to gain more mobility to go out into the

open seas. Otherwise, marine fishing is essentially limited to coastal fishing in Bangladesh,

where a limited number of species are targeted, often leading to over-exploitation.

Fishermen who generally carry out fishing activities in the coastal and shallow seas use low-

cost craft and unskilled workers. The number of marine fishermen increased from 200,000 to

500,000 in the last two decades because of high demographic pressure and unemployment.

The number of mechanised boats increased from 200 to 10,000 and non-mechanised

decreased from 40,000 to 14,000 in the same period. About 80% of fishermen are illiterate

and about 70% are landless. Businesses frequently lend them money in advance with interest

rates greater than 120% per year, which does not help the fishermen to become self-reliant.

The marine fishing season is from October to March; when the sea is rough, fishermen switch

to fresh water fishing. The short marine fishing season and the increased number of

fishermen has adversely affected their income.

Discussion/Reflection Task

1. Though Bangladesh is the largest deltaic country in the world with rivers running

across its lands, its fish resources are depleting fast. What factors might be causing this?

2. Define the term aquaculture. How does it help in the sustainable development of fish

resources?

3. What are the differences between inland and marine fishing? An interesting fact is

that although Bangladesh owns a large area of open seas, it cannot increase its marine

fish catch. Why is this?

Comprehension Question

List some inland and marine fishing methods.

Reflection/Discussion Task

What advantages and disadvantages do you think that each of the above fishing methods

have in the fishing industry?

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 3 (c): Water (uses of rivers and groundwater)

Purpose of this section

This section explores the different uses of surface and groundwater in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is the largest deltaic country in the world. The country is drained by the Ganges,

Brahmaputra and Meghna and is criss-crossed by a large network of rivers. Possessing a

tropical monsoon climate, its water resources are abundant on both the surface and

underground. The surface water resources are the rivers, as well as still water bodies like

ponds, beels and haors. The groundwater is the water held within the pore spaces of rocks

etc. under the ground.

Uses of water

Water is needed for consumptive needs and non-consumptive needs. Consumptive needs

are those in which the water is used for drinking or irrigating crops for example. Non-

consumptive needs are those where water is needed, but not consumed.

Figure 3.8: The demand for water as a percentage (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic

Society of Bangladesh)

Notice from Figure 3.8 that the greatest demand for water arises from the agricultural sector.

It is difficult, but essential, to obtain an accurate assessment of the availability of water

resources, to enable proper planning, development and utilisation.

Water is a very scarce resource in Bangladesh during the dry months of the year (February to

April) and the maximum water demand occurs in March.

Gross water demand is based on irrigation requirements, salinity control in the estuaries,

fisheries, inland navigation, and domestic and industrial uses. There are about 7.56 Mha

(million hectares) of cultivable land. It is anticipated that about 6.9 Mha of agricultural land will

be brought under irrigation by 2018.

Figure 3.9 Total water supply as a percentage (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of

Bangladesh)

A greater amount of surface water flows through Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal than is

needed for all the consumptive and non-consumptive needs. However, there are no

opportunities for surface water storage and little scope for gravity diversion without any

barrages on the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers.

Comprehension Question

For each of the consumptive and non-consumptive uses of water, explain how water is used.

Discussion/Reflection Task

Why do you think that agriculture uses the greatest amount of water?

Use of water for irrigation

Irrigation is the term used to describe the artificial water supply to agricultural land by means

of dams, channels, or other devices. At present, widespread use of both shallow and deep

tube wells for irrigation takes place during the months of November to March.

Some useful irrigation devices are:

motorised pumps, such as shallow or deep tube wells, used to lift ground water from

below the surface. Low-lift pumps are used to pump surface water.

manual pumps (non-mechanical) include don, swing basket, treadle pump, hand tube

well, hand sprinkler, diaphragm pump and tubs.

treadle pumps are appropriate technology for small farmers, and such pumps have

increased the land area that can be used for the cultivation of crops in the dry winters in

the north of the country.

Figure 3.10 Irrigation (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

You can see more pictures of different devices used for irrigation in Banglapedia (Asiatic

Society of Bangladesh).

Bangladesh has become increasingly dependent on groundwater sources for irrigation needs.

Farmers have to use groundwater in the winter to grow Boro rice, when there is little rainfall

and the local water bodies dry up. Trans-boundary flows of rivers are also diminishing at an

alarming rate due to increased demands from the countries neighbouring Bangladesh.

Use of water for hydro-electric power

To set up a hydro-electric power station, a hilly topography with a heavy rainfall and a fast-

flowing river are the necessary physical conditions. This involves the construction of a water

reservoir by building a dam across a river to obtain the required water head for driving a

turbine. The scope of hydropower generation is very limited in Bangladesh because of its low

and flat topography, except for some parts of the north-east and south-east and some

highlands in the north and north-western parts.

Currently, the only hydro-electric power station in the country is the Karnafuli Hydro Power

Station, located in Kaptai (Rangamati District) across the river Karapuli. The river is fed by

rainfall and spring water. This station has a generation capacity of 230 MW.

A number of feasibility studies carried out in the 1980s revealed that 15 rivers have the

potential for siting mini hydropower stations of 10 kW to 100 kW capacity. It was thought that

water resources in the areas of Chitagong and Bandarban, Sylhet-Moulvibazar, Mymensingh-

Sherpur and Dinajpur-Rangpur could generate a total amount of 1,156,320 kW of electricity

per year.

Use of water for transport

Bangladesh is the world's largest deltaic region which is criss-crossed by a large network of

river systems.

Nearly the whole area of the country consists of low and plain lands, and about 7% of its

surface is covered by a dense 24,000 km network of inland waterways.

Inland waterways network

About two thirds of the country is vulnerable to flooding during the monsoon season. Most

areas remain underwater for two to five months in a year. Inland water transport is a relatively

cheaper means of transportation in Bangladesh.

The inland navigable waterways are classified by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport

Authority (BIWTA) into different groups according to depth of water and whether they are

major, link, secondary or seasonal routes. Many unclassified routes are also used by the

country-boat sector. The total length of its waterways (700 rivers) is about 13,000 km. Of this,

8,433 km is navigable by large vessels in the rainy season (5,968 km of which is classified for

navigation), while in the dry season about 4,800 km is navigable (3,865 km classified).

Inland water transport

This plays a vital role in the national economic sector. Almost all the big cities, towns and

commercial centres of the country grew on the river banks. The major inland ports are Dhaka,

Narayanganj, Chandpur, Barisal, Khulna, Patuakhali, Nagarbari, Aricha, Daulatdia, Baghabari

and Narshindi. The BIWTA has developed ferry terminals at Aricha, Daulatdia, Nagarbari,

Mawa and Chorjanajatri to connect the capital city by ferry services with the districts situated

on the other side of the rivers Padma and Jamuna.

The network consists mostly of passenger vessels, cargo vessels, tankers, tugboats and

barges. The waterways system in Bangladesh is both extensive and well connected with the

rest of the transport system, and it will continue to play a significant role in passenger and

cargo movements. Inland ports handle about 40% of the country's total exports and imports.

During floods, cyclones and other natural hazards, inland waterways and inland ports provide

essential services to the nation through transportation and handling relief materials where

road and rail communications are not available or have become disrupted. Water transport is

cheaper, safer and environmentally friendly and will thus continue to play a significant role in

the economic life of Bangladesh in future.

Comprehension Question

List some of the ways that groundwater is used in Bangladesh.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. Why is there a lack of water from February to April? Discuss what effect this has on

the agriculture of the country.

2. How can Bangladesh manage to solve this scarcity of water?

3. In the south of the country, waterways are the main route of transport. Discuss some

of the problems that may hinder their development.

4.

a. On a map, locate the hydroelectric power station mentioned above.

b. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this power station.

c. Is it possible to set up more such stations in Bangladesh? Give reasons for

your answer.

5. During the monsoon period, aquaculture can play a vital part in the economic life of

the rural poor. Explain how this activity is sustainable.

For each of the consumptive and non-consumptive uses of water, explain how water is used.

Research/Resource Skills Activities

1. On a map of Bangladesh, locate and name the following:

Testa Barrage irrigation scheme

Ganges Kobadakh irrigation project

Gumti irrigation project.

2.

a. Find out what intermittent rivers are. Where are these rivers found in Bangladesh?

Why?

b. When are these rivers navigable?

c. What are they used for when they are not?

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 3 (d): Minerals (location and uses)

Purpose of this section

This section explains the location and use of minerals such as gas, coal, oil, limestone, china

clay and glass/silica sand.

Introduction

Geologically, Bangladesh is formed from:

Tertiary folded sedimentary rocks in the north, north eastern and eastern parts;

Uplifted Pleistocene in the north western, mid northern and eastern parts

Holocene deposits consisting of sand silt and clay.

Formed as a result of this geological environment, important mineral deposits in

Bangladesh include:

natural gas

coal

oil

limestone

white/china clay

glass/silica sand.

The oil and natural gas reserves are to be found in sandstone reservoirs where they

have accumulated after rising up through many kilometres of rock layers. Glass (or

silica) sand is found in the Holocene sediments, while white (or china) clay is to be

found in the later Pleistocene sediments in small hills in the northern parts of

Bangladesh.

Resource Skills Activities

Look at a map showing mineral resources in Bangladesh - for example, page 34 of

Graphosman World Atlas.

7. Describe the distribution of each of the minerals listed on the map.

8. Locate and name the following:

one oil field

two gas fields

two coal fields

a location for each of limestone, china clay and glass

sand deposit.

Natural gas and oil

There are 22 gas fields that have been discovered in the country. They are mainly

found in the eastern part of the country and offshore in the Bay of Bengal. Currently,

natural gas accounts for more than 70% of the total commercial energy consumption

of Bangladesh, and it is hoped that much of the future energy demand will also be

satisfied from this resource. There is, however, some concern over what will happen

when this non-renewable resource runs out.

Figure 3.11 Uses of natural gas in different sectors as a percentage (source:

Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

The only known oil field in the country was discovered in Haripur in north-eastern

Bangladesh in 1986, and it has still not been fully evaluated. Oil is chiefly used for

providing energy for the country. Petrobangla is the only national oil extraction

company in the country, and it is working with a number of international companies to

develop the field.

Figure 3.12 A gas field in Bangladesh (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of

Bangladesh)

Coal

Coal is a black or very dark brown mineral substance formed from the compaction of

ancient plant matter in tropical swamp conditions. It is used as a fuel and in the

chemical industry. All coalfields so far discovered in Bangladesh are to be found in

the north west of the country, in Jamalganj, Barapukuria, Khalaspir, Dighipara and

Phulbari. Coal is also sometimes imported from India, China and Indonesia and is

chiefly used in brickfields and in small industries to provide energy.

Research task

Briefly research and list the different uses of gas.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. Discuss the importance of gas in the economic development of

the country.

2. Discuss how the extraction of coal can minimise the process of

deforestation.

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock, consisting chiefly of calcium carbonate. It is the

main raw material for the cement industry and is used for construction purposes. It is

also used in the preparation of paper, steel, sugar, glass and lime.

Limestone is found at or near the surface as well as under the ground. Surface (or

near-surface) limestone deposits are found near St. Martin's island off Cox's Bazaar

district and also in Sunamganj district. Sub-surface deposits are found in Joypurhat

district. The total reserves at Joypurhat alone been estimated to be around a 100

million tonnes.

Lime (calcium oxide) is used for agricultural purposes. It contains carbonates, oxides

and/or hydroxides of calcium. It is added to acidic soil to raise the pH value -- i.e. to

neutralise the soil acidity. In Bangladesh, liming is not a common practice, but it is

carried out to improve tea-growing soil where the pH becomes too low.

White or china clay

There are surface (or near-surface) deposits of this mineral in the districts of

Netrokona, Sherpur and Chittagong. There are also a few sub-surface deposits in

some parts of Dinajpur and Naogaon. However, the surface clay is not of a very good

quality. It is used in the ceramic industry in the country only after it is mixed with a

high-quality imported clay.

Glass sand

Glass sand is a special type of sand that is suitable for glass making because of its

high silica content and its low content of iron oxide, chromium, cobalt and other

colourants. Glass sand in Bangladesh consists of fine to medium and yellow to grey

quartz.

Like limestone and clay, it is found at or near the surface as well as under the ground.

Surface (or near-surface) reserves are found in the districts of Sherpur, Habiganj,

Comilla and Chittagong. Sub-surface reserves are found in Dinajpur and Rangpur.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

For limestone, china clay and glass sand, describe their economic importance to Bangladesh.

Looking Ahead

Your knowledge of Topic 3 (Natural Resources) will be useful when you study other Topics in

the syllabus. For example, forests and water in Topic 3 are linked to deforestation and floods

in Topic 4 (Environmental Challenges); and minerals in Topic 3 are linked to certain types of

industry in Topic 7 (Industry). Start to think how the natural resources of Bangladesh can lead

to environmental problems or create economic opportunities for people.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 4 (a) Climate change

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 4 of the ten Environment & Development Topics in the syllabus for

the Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies (syllabus 7094, Paper 2).

It introduces students to:

the environmental challenges facing Bangladesh today – climate change (Topic 4a),

storms (Topic 4b), floods (Topic 4c), droughts (Topic 4d), arsenic (Topic 4e),

deforestation (Topic 4f)and pollution (Topic 4g)

their causes

their effects on the people, environment and economy

possible solutions to these challenges.

Topic 4a: Climate change What is global warming?

One of the biggest environmental challenges that affects not only Bangladesh but also the

whole world is the phenomenon of climatic change. Worldwide it has been observed that the

temperature has been slowly increasing in the 20th century. This phenomenon is called

global warming.

Cause of global warming

The main reason for global warming is the increase in the level of carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere, chiefly due to the burning of fossil fuels.

The sun's rays pass through the earth's atmosphere and strike the surface, warming up our

planet and making it possible for life to exist. Some of the incoming rays are reflected back

into the atmosphere, while others are absorbed in the surface. The reflected waves cannot

pass back into space; thus these waves are trapped within the earth's atmosphere. The

energy of these waves helps to heat up the earth more than if the atmosphere was not there.

This is called the greenhouse effect, as a greenhouse is kept warmer than the surroundings

by a similar method.

Some constituents of the atmosphere are more efficient at trapping heat, and such gases are

called greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide being an important member of this group. The

increase in the level of carbon dioxide in recent years has increased the trapping of the

reflected heat, thus leading to global warming.

Effects of global warming

It is thought that the effect of the increased temperature will be destructive to many areas of

the world. In low latitude areas, the change will be minimal - about 0.05 to 0.25 degrees C.

However, at higher latitudes, the changes will be more drastic, as much as 5-9 degrees C.

According to current predictions, this temperature rise will cause the polar and Himalayan ice

caps to melt leading to a rise in the earth's sea level of at least 2 to 3 metres by the year

2050. This will undoubtedly cause all the low lying delta regions of the world to be

submerged, and that is bad news for Bangladesh. A huge percentage of the southern part of

the country is at risk of being submerged by the Bay of Bengal.

It has also been found that an increase in the temperature of the sea aids in the formation of

cyclones, which may have disastrous effects if they hit the country.

Increased water levels can lead to floods in the country that, in turn, increase the risk of

inundation. In tropical countries like Bangladesh, this comes with diseases like malaria and

cholera.

Comprehension Question

1. How does the greenhouse effect relate to the problem of global warming?

2. In what ways is Bangladesh at risk from global warming?

Discussion/Reflection Task

Bangladesh is a small densely populated country with a high population growth rate. If the

low-lying coastal areas are flooded by the year 2050, what steps should Bangladesh be

taking from now?

Resource Skills Task

On a map of Bangladesh, shade the areas that are vulnerable to floods due to global

warming.

Research Task: possible solutions

You have been asked to speak at a conference and suggest ways to minimise global

warming! Quickly research this and make brief notes in readiness for your presentation!

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 4 (b) Storms

Purpose of this section

This section covers different types of storms - their causes, effects and possible solutions.

Types of storms and their causes

In Bangladesh we encounter two kinds of storms in general:

nor'westers that occur inland

cyclones that originate over the sea.

Nor'westers are frequent in the months of March to May, when we hear of at least one

striking some place in the country every fortnight. These are the result of a front forming,

when moist tropical and dry continental air masses meet. These have wind speeds of over

140kmph. They occur more towards the central parts of the country; most are recorded in

Dhaka, Faridpur and Pabna.

Tropical cyclones develop where the northerly and southerly trade winds meet. The reason

why they form over oceans is that the air masses that have travelled over the oceans have

warm, moist lower layers, with cooler and drier upper layers. When these meet, the warm air

rises and is cooled, and its moisture condenses to form heavy rain. The latent heat set free

from condensation provides the energy that makes the cyclone rotate, generally moving in a

westerly direction. Once the cyclone reaches land, it dies down as its supply of warm moist air

is shut off.

Figure 4.1 The paths taken by some cyclones in the twentieth century (source: Banglapedia,

Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Effects of storms

In Bangladesh, most of the houses are built from bamboo, hay and mud. Even moderately

strong winds can cause a problem to the dwellers, so when a tropical cyclone or a nor’wester

strikes, their chances of withstanding the great winds are quite low.

A nor'wester, or tornado, develops inland and its effects are not as widespread as a

cyclone. It affects a smaller area, but is more devastating, and leaves nothing in its path of

destruction.

Tropical cyclones develop over the sea. The ones that affect Bangladesh mostly form in the

Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. They can bring utter devastation to coastal areas. Storm

surges occur with waves sometimes as high as 10 m, and few things remain when such a

storm is over. Trees are uprooted and the crudely constructed houses are blown away in the

winds, or washed away by the surge. The only way people can be certain of survival is by an

early storm warning system. To evacuate, leave their homes and all their possessions and to

move to a storm rehabilitation centre is their only chance. Not all make it in time, and some

only survive if they are strong enough to climb and hold on to the wet branches of a tree

throughout the duration of the storm. There are tremendous losses to crops and livestock,

and nearly ten percent of the population of the affected area dies in a severe tropical cyclone.

The dead are mostly children and old people. At the end of the storm, the backwash carries

away the debris and the dead out to the sea.

Figure 4.2 Devastation following a cyclone (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of

Bangladesh)

Comprehension questions

1. Describe the nature of nor’westers and the damage they cause to life and property.

2. Tropical cyclones are usually accompanied by huge tidal surges. What are tidal

surges?

Resource Skills Task

Study Figure 4.3 and describe where cyclones are most common.

Figure 4.3 Cyclone affected areas (Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Possible solutions

Storms are a natural phenomenon and there is not much we can do to prevent them in the

short run. However, we know that their formation is related to the effect of global warming), as

cyclones can develop more frequently with high sea temperatures. Thus, measures against

global warming will prevent the frequency of cyclones.

There is, however, much that can be done to minimise the effects of cyclones and tornadoes.

Discussion/Reflection Task

Can you think of ways to minimise the effects of cyclones, tornadoes and tidal surges on life

and property? Discuss and jot them down.

Can you see your ideas in the suggestions below?

Here are some possible solutions:

1. Develop a better warning system, as most of the losses in life occur due to a

delayed warning. There is the technology to detect a storm days before it can actually hit

a particular area, but it the dissemination of the information to the people that is delayed.

The news needs to spread faster and more efficiently.

2. The construction of houses in the area can be modified so that they are more

resistant to the storm surge and the strong winds. Sometimes a raised platform can be

useful as this helps people to stay above the level of the water when the surge passes.

3. Other measures can be taken by the government, such as the construction of

sluice gates which can hold back the water. However, the cost of such a scheme is

prohibitive.

4. It would be possible to declare the storm affected areas as uninhabitable, but a

government is unlikely to do so as the resources of land are scarce in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 4 (c) Floods

Purpose of this section

This section covers types of floods - their causes, effects and possible solutions.

Introduction

The flood plain ecosystem of Bangladesh covers about 80% of the total land area. Each year

in Bangladesh, on average about 18% of the country is flooded. During severe floods, which

occur from May to October, this percentage may increase considerably.

Figure 4.4 Intensity of floods, 1954 to 1999 (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of

Bangladesh)

Figure 4.5: Flood prone areas (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Note: Banglapedia has other maps showing flood-affected areas.

Resource Skills/Discussion Questions

1. Can you think of ways to minimise the effects of cyclones, tornadoes and tidal

surges on life and property? Discuss and jot them down.

2. Can you see your ideas in the suggestions below?

Types of floods and their causes

Floods are frequent in Bangladesh. They can be divided into four types:

1. monsoon floods

2. flash floods

3. rainfall-induced floods

4. tidal floods

Monsoon floods

Monsoon in Bangladesh generally signifies the rain from June to September or early October.

Monsoon is the seasonal reversal of wind direction caused by the differential heating and

cooling of landmass and oceans between summer and winter. During the dry monsoon

(winter), the wind blows from the north-east towards the sea, and during the wet monsoon

(summer), it blows from the south-west towards the land. The summer monsoon winds bring

an enormous amount of moisture, causing heavy rainfall in Bangladesh from June to

September or early October.

During the rainy season, when the weather flow exceeds the holding capacity of rivers,

canals, beels and haors, it inundates low-lying areas, causing damage to crops, homesteads,

roads and other properties.

Floods in Bangladesh are usually within tolerable limits. But occasionally they become

devastating. Each year in Bangladesh, about 26,000 sq. km. (18%) of the country is flooded.

During severe floods, the affected area may exceed 55% of the total area of the country (May

to October) by the three main rivers, the Ganges the Brahmaputra, Jumuna and the Meghna.

The combined annual flood wave from these three rivers passes through a single outlet, the

lower Meghna and is too much for the lower Meghna to discharge into the Bay of Bengal.

The excess water cannot drain into the ground, and flooding caused by drainage congestion

exists nearly everywhere except in the highland and hilly areas in the northern and eastern

parts of the country.

Flash floods

The water increases and decreases suddenly, and flash floods generally occur in the valleys

of hilly regions. They occur chiefly between April and May, usually in the northern and eastern

rivers. Flash floods are caused by a sudden onrush of water from upstream hilly areas, due to

heavy rainfall in the catchment areas. A poor drainage system is also a major factor. These

floods are really unpredictable and do not occur every year.

Rainfall induced floods.

These occur during the monsoon season due to very heavy rainfall. These floods are usually

localised and occur mostly in areas of poor drainage.

Tidal floods

These are of short duration, the height of water is usually 3 m to 6 m, and they block the

inland flood drainage system. Tidal floods occur along the coastal areas of the country, and

are accompanied by storm surges. The intrusion of saline water inland is a nuisance to most

people living there.

Comprehension Questions

1.

a. Explain what flash floods are.

b. When do they occur in Bangladesh?

c. Where in the country do they occur most?

d. What is the main cause of these floods?

2. Scan the information in this section and jot down a list of main causes of floods.

3. Most of the above causes are natural. There are also man-made causes of floods. In

the list below, tick those which are natural and those which are man-made:

Cause of floods Natural Man-made Deforestation leads to erosion of the river banks, and the soil eventually washes down to the river raising the river bed. Heavy rainfall in the country makes the water level rise and cause flash floods. The rivers have a large number of tributaries which drain finally into one channel which runs down to the sea. Often this single channel is not enough to drain water from all the tributaries and the river overflows its banks. Intensive agricultural methods lead to soil erosion, which leads to floods. Construction of barrages upstream by other countries, as well as Bangladesh, causes poor drainage and soil to accumulate on the river bed. The melting of snow in the Himalayas increases the water flow. Tidal and wind effects slow down the outflow into the sea.

Earthquakes cause the rivers to change their flow. :

4.

Effects of floods

Figure 4.6 A flooded village (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Figure 4.7 Flooded Dhaka city, 1988 (Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Floods cause a lot of problems to the average Bangladeshi. People are rendered homeless,

valuable property is lost and roads are damaged. Often crops are lost and livestock die in the

onslaught of the river water.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

Have you or your family ever experienced a flood? Share your experiences.

1. What, if any, are the advantages of floods to Bangladesh?

2. Diarrhoea ravages the people as the flood water recedes.

3. Diarrhoea ravages the people as the flood water recedes.

a. Explain why this happens.

b. Who are the people most affected?

c. What measures can be taken to prevent the onslaught of diarrhoea.

Possible solutions

Just as the case with cyclones, lives may be saved if people are properly warned and are

evacuated from the affected area with their livestock before the flood occurs. If caught out

when the flood does strike, people make temporary rafts out of bamboo and try to save

themselves and their animals.

In such times, provisions of food and clean water are scarce and people starve to death

unless help arrives promptly. The lack of clean water causes water-borne diseases to spread

rapidly among the flood victims.

Flood control measures

In an attempt to reduce the devastative effects of floods, structures such as embankments

and barrages have been constructed to hold back the water or to minimise the bank overflow.

But there are some non-structural measures which are quite effective in controlling floods:

1. giving meteorological information to the people, so that they can be warned in time

and evacuated to a safer place

2. and management to reduce surface run-off, which includes an intensive afforestation

and reforestation programme to increase the absorption of the water.

3. change the use of the land in the flood-prone areas, and the planting of flood-

resistant crops.

Discussion/Reflection Question

Discuss how the government tackles the flood problem.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 4 (d) Droughts

Purpose of this section

This section covers the causes, effects and possible solutions of droughts.

Causes of drought

Drought is the term used to describe a prolonged period of dry weather along with insufficient

rainfall. It occurs when evaporation and transpiration exceed the amount of precipitation

for quite some time. During droughts, the moisture content of the soil is not sufficient for

normal crop growth.

In Bangladesh, droughts occur mostly in the north-western regions. Rainfall is comparatively

less in these regions than in other parts of the country, and so they are known as the

drought-prone area of the country.

Most of the rivers that flow through Bangladesh actually come from India and Myanmar.

Barrages have been constructed upstream to hold the water back during the dry seasons,

preventing their flow to the sea through Bangladesh. There is also the withdrawal of water

upstream for human use. This not only creates a scarcity of surface water in the north-west

and south-west regions of the country, but it also prevents the groundwater level from refilling

properly. As an effect, there is an overall reduction in the moisture in a vast region, and this

contributes significantly to the drought.

This is a global problem, too. Deforestation results in a reduction of the water-holding capacity

of the earth and leads to a lack of rainfall, ultimately leading to drought.

Some of the factors that lead to soil erosion are also major causes for drought in Bangladesh.

Comprehension Question

Even though Bangladesh experiences heavy rainfall during the monsoon season, the country is

affected by droughts. Explain why this happens.

Resource Skills Question

Study an atlas map of drought affected areas - for example, page 41 of Graphosman World Atlas.

Which part of the country is affected most by droughts? Why?

Effects of drought

Lack of water is the main effect of drought, and so all the processes where the supply of

water plays an important part are hampered.

People’s lives are at stake when they cannot find water to drink. Crops fail miserably and food

runs short, often leading to malnutrition and famine. There is a scarcity of fodder for livestock

causing their death. Bangladesh is a country based on agriculture and when its crops fail it

means that the economy is going to suffer greatly. The price of food increases as it becomes

scarce. The vegetation loses all its green foliage, leading to the death of trees and plants. In a

vicious cycle this leads to deforestation.

Some of the major droughts that have occurred in Bangladesh

The 1973 drought was one of the most severe droughts in the country and was

responsible for the 1974 famine in northern Bangladesh.

The 1975 drought affected 47% of the entire country and 53% of the total population.

The 1978-79 drought was one the most severe. It resulted in a loss of 2 million tons

of rice and directly affected 42% of the cultivated land and 44% of the population.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. How are farming activities carried out during the period of drought?

2. Give some reasons why the underground water table levels drop.

Discuss the socio-economic problems experienced in the drought-affected areas.

Possible solutions Discussion/Reflection Question

Look at the causes of drought and suggest some possible solutions.

Remember that almost all environmental challenges are interconnected, and one problem will lead to

another - e.g. deforestation can lead to global warming and climatic change, which can lead to

drought. So each problem may not necessarily have a particular solution. Read the section at the end

of Section G which discusses general solutions to environmental problems.

Add Comment

Copyright © University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate 2012.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 4 (e) Groundwater

Purpose of this section

This section covers the causes, effects and possible solutions of arsenic pollution.

Causes of arsenic pollution

Both man-made and natural causes have been put forward for the arsenic contamination

problems in Bangladesh. Some of these reasons, mostly man-made, are:

use of insecticides and pesticides

waste disposal

use of arsenic-treated wooden poles for power grids

excessive lifting of groundwater for irrigation purposes has gradually lowered the

groundwater level, causing oxygen to move into the space created by the withdrawal of

the water. Oxygen causes changes in arsenic containing rocks that are present

underneath; as a result inorganic arsenic is released into the water. However, at an

international conference in Dhaka in February 1998, it was agreed that the contamination

was of a geological origin and not caused by man.

Effects of arsenic pollution

This is a problem because most of the areas in Bangladesh do not have access to a piped

water supply from a central purifying unit, as do most cities in the world. Most of the rural

areas depend on groundwater for domestic needs, and as arsenic has mostly been detected

in the groundwater, the people of Bangladesh are deeply affected.

Figure 4.8 Arsenicosis (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Arsenic contamination has become a big public health issue. It causes an illness called

arsenicosis, the early manifestations of which are the appearance of dark and white patches

on the skin. The skin hardens due to the accumulation of arsenic in the blood. However, a

person can exhibit any one of these symptoms as well as all of them. Arsenicosis develops

over a period of 5 to 15 years, but always takes the form of a progressive and fatal disease. It

can also lead to cancer of important organs, like the liver or the kidneys.

Figure 4.9 Arsenic contaminated areas (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Resource Skills Activity

Study the above map or an atlas map showing areas of arsenic contamination - for example,

page 38 of Graphosman World Atlas. Describe where the worst affected areas are to be

found.

Discussion/Reflection Question

To some extent, the problem of arsenic contamination also affects the country's economy.

Discuss this statement.

Possible solutions

The government is working with non-government and international organisations on the

arsenic contamination problem in Bangladesh. Some of the measures are:

removal of arsenic in households: various filtration units, along with a passive

sedimentation process, are used to filter contaminated water to make it fit for drinking.

very shallow tubewells: it has been found that water is arsenic-free at shallow

depths so such tubewells can provide arsenic-free water.

pond sand filters: a sand filter is constructed near a pond to provide arsenic-free

drinking water.

rainwater storage: rainwater is considered a good arsenic-free water source and is

stored in earthenware or ferro-cement jars to be used later for drinking and other

purposes.

deep groundwater: water deeper than 150 metres below the ground is considered to

be mostly arsenic-free, and is considered as a long-term source of arsenic-free water.

treated surface water: surface water is mostly contaminated by bacteria, which can

be treated to provide a safe source of drinking water.

arsenic removal plant: large-scale removal of arsenic can be made possible by

constructing plants in cities where a piped water supply exists.

Comprehension Questions

1. In arsenic contaminated areas, people are instructed not to use certain marked

tubewells. Why do you think is so?

2. What symptoms are seen if people drink from such tubewells?

3. Explain why extraction of underground water leads to arsenic problems.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 4 (f) Deforestation

Purpose of this section

This section covers the causes, effects and possible solutions of deforestation.

Introduction

According to environmental science, 25% of a country’s land area should be covered with

forests for a balanced ecology. Bangladesh, however, has only 6% that is forested.

50% of the country’s forests have been destroyed in the last 20 years. This is known as

deforestation. Indiscriminate felling of trees in the greater parts of Dhaka, Mymensingh,

Rajshahi, Rangpur and Dinajpur have resulted in an alarming depletion of the forests. Some

30 years ago, the forest area in Tangail was 2,000 acres; today it is down to 1,000 acres.

Similarly, the forests in the Chittagong Hill Tracts have been over-exploited by the tribal

people, mainly for jhum cultivation.

Figure 4.10 Deforestation (Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh)

Causes of deforestation

The increasing demand of land for agriculture, homes and industries caused by a population

explosion has taken a heavy toll on the country’s forests since the early 20th century.

In 1910, the country’s population was 40 million but now it has more than tripled to 140

million. In the 1980s, the rate of destruction of forests in the country was 8,000 hectares per

year. Now it has gone up to 37,700 hectares per year. The annual deforestation rate is 3.3%.

Deforestation leading to desertification in the country started in the central Barind area in the

north-west of Bangladesh. It is feared that if this process continues a large part of Bangladesh

will turn into desert.

Forest officials blame illegal encroachment by the local people and over-exploitation of forest

resources as the immediate reasons for the fast depletion of woodlands in Bangladesh. In the

Chittagong Hill Tracts, substantial loss of forest resources is attributed to commercial

exploitation of immature trees for sale on the black market. Commercial use of forest land for

monoculture of rubber and for fuel wood has also had a negative impact on the country’s

forests.

A massive expansion of commercial shrimp culture recently appeared to be the latest threat

to the forests in the southern coastal areas, especially in Satkhira and Cox’s Bazaar.

How shrimp culture causes deforestation

There is a possibility of ecological damage to the country’s coastal belt, where shrimp farming

has been developed over the last three decades. Shrimp cultivation is suitable where brackish

water is available. Unplanned and uncontrolled growth of shrimp enclosures have led to the

destruction of mangrove forest areas and a reduction in livestock. Cultivation of shrimp affects

the soil since it needs saline water for a long period of the year.

Shrimp cultivation has not only caused a significant loss to traditional agriculture but also to

the environment – for example, a reduction in fruit-bearing trees. During the month of April the

concentration of salinity on the soil becomes severe, causing deforestation.

In 1972, the Chakoria Sundarbans in Cox's Bazar occupied an area of 19,000 hectares. By

1981, this forest area squeezed down to a mere 9,000 hectares, and in 1985, it was further

reduced to only 4,000 hectares. And again half of this forest was destroyed by 1991. Chakoria

Sundarbans is an example of how unplanned shrimp culture can be the cause of destruction

of a flourishing forest. The dykes of the shrimp enclosures hinder free flow of flood water and

cause acute salinity, which is damaging the forests.

In the shrimp enclosures, land remains under salt water throughout the year. This increases

the concentration of salt in the soil, which later results in the depletion of the forests. Shrimp

culture reduces the fertility of the land and thus leaves an adverse effects on nature and

environment. It is very difficult to innovate an environment-friendly method of shrimp culture.

Two thirds of the Sundarban mangrove forests, stretching from the southern end of the

Ganges/ Brahmaputra delta to the Hoogly river in the west, are in Bangladesh. The level of

salinity is a crucial factor in the protection of the coastal mangroves. But the eastward shift of

the Ganges channel has, over the decades, reduced the fresh water flows into the

distributaries that flow down through the Sundarbans. After the construction of the Farakka

Barrage, in the Indian state of West Bengal, the fresh water flow through the Sundarbans has

further decreased, causing a rise in the salinity in the area.

Effects of deforestation

There are widespread effects of deforestation:

soil erosion in the immediate area: this has secondary effects as the soil ultimately

washes down to rivers and causes floods.

reduction of rainfall: this results from the lack of evaporation from leaves, as none

remain, and from the reduction in the absorptive capacity of the ground. This causes

droughts.

climatic changes: perhaps the most devastating effect of deforestation, this has its

effects all over the world. It is a major reason for global warming

nature: forests are home to many exotic species of plants and animals. These

species lose their habitat, and this is a great loss to the ecology and the scientific

community.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. Where are mangrove forests found in Bangladesh?

2. Discuss how the ecology and the socio-economic system will be affected if the

process of deforestation continues in the Sundarbans.

Possible solutions

Besides reforestation (re-stocking woodlands that have been depleted), afforestation

programmes (planting trees on areas formerly used for other purposes) have taken place

throughout the country to maintain an ecological balance – for example, strip plantations

alongside railways, roads and embankments and coastal afforestation programmes.

Biodiversity conservation in the Sundarbans reserved forests is the biggest ongoing

project, its objective being to promote and implement biodiversity conservation and

sustainable forest management. This can only happen through massive afforestation of all

available land along roads, railways, canal banks and in the depleted Sal forests.

Also, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, afforestation has taken place, along with rehabilitation of

Jhumia families, in order to protect the soil and the environment.

The Department of Forest alone cannot achieve these goals, but it needs the active support

of the local people and the private sector, who have vested interests in the forests.

People should be taught how they can live in harmony with the forest without destroying it.

Sustainable development programmes need to be spread among the people so that they

benefit from the resources of the forest while at the same time saving it.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. Can deforestation in Bangladesh be halted? If so, how?

2. Explain how the government is trying to recover the deforested areas.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 4 (g) Air and water pollution

Purpose of this section

This section covers the causes, effects and possible solutions of air and water pollution.

Introduction

Pollution is a problem encountered not only in Bangladesh but all over the world. The causes

and the possible solutions that can be offered are basically the same, but we will consider in

detail those that apply more to Bangladesh.

Causes of air pollution in Bangladesh

As in the rest of the world, the emission of harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon

dioxide, sulphur dioxide and various oxides of nitrogen by natural or artificial means into the

atmosphere causes air pollution.

Generally, two main reasons have been identified for air pollution in Bangladesh - industrial

and vehicular.

During their operation, factories built for various purposes are spewing out enormous

quantities of harmful gases that pollute the air. Harmful gases that are emitted during mining

operations are also included in this category.

Vehicles throughout the country contribute their share to air pollution. Although all the

motorised vehicles emit harmful gases, the emissions from two-stroke engines are more

dangerous.

The use of leaded petrol has led to a huge amount of lead building up in the streets of the

major cities. Dhaka has one of the largest amounts of lead in the air compared to all the rest

of the cities in the world, about 463 nanograms per cubic metre of air.

Effects of air pollution

The effect of air pollution in Bangladesh, as anywhere else in the world, is the accumulation of

harmful gases in the atmosphere. Acid rain is a major phenomenon caused by air pollution

and usually has its effect far from the source of the pollution.

Formation of acid rain

When acidic gases, such as sulphur dioxide or some oxides of nitrogen, are emitted into the

atmosphere, they are absorbed in the moisture in the air to form acid. By the normal processes of

cloud formation and rainfall, these acids come down to the earth with devastating effects.

Acid rain causes many problems to the environment:

It increases acidity in lakes, thus making it impossible for many of the life forms to

survive. The biodiversity changes and species that are more tolerant of the increased

acidity survive, but in most cases the diversity decreases.

Acid rain releases many heavy metal ions in the ground. Often these ions are

poisonous to the plant species growing there.

Acid rain falling directly on plants causes problems to them, in many cases leading to

some form of damage to the leaves.

Acidification of soil can kill the soil bacteria that play an important part in many

nutrient cycles and nitrogen fixation.

Corrosion of man-made structures.

Air pollution is associated with various health hazards. Breathing in impure air causes many

breathing illnesses. More serious illnesses are caused by poisonous components in the air

such as lead, which causes brain development disorder in children. Excessive lead in the

blood can cause major organs to disfunction.

Possible solutions to the problem of air pollution

Various methods of minimising air pollution have been implemented or designed include:

introduction of four-stroke engines which pollute less

ban on leaded petrol

proper monitoring of the streets so that vehicles which pollute are identified and

proper action taken against them by the authorities

factories which are issuing pollutant gases should be fitted with proper purification

units which minimise the harm that gases, if untreated, would do to the environment

vehicles should be fitted with catalytic converters, which take away some of the more

harmful gases from the car exhaust and minimise acidic gases in the environment.

Causes of water pollution in Bangladesh

There are both natural and artificial causes of water pollution. The natural ones occur without

any human influence.

There are point sources of water pollution, which pollute the water at discrete locations, and

there are non-point sources. The point sources include industrial structures such as

factories or sewage treatment plants. Cities, including their roads and railroads, croplands

and forests, are non-point sources of pollution issuing dust, sediment, pesticides, asbestos,

fertilisers, heavy metals, oil, grease and even air pollutants washed down from the sky.

Surface water is extensively polluted by industrial and household wastes, as well as

chemicals used in agriculture. Of these, the untreated wastes from the industries prove to be

the most damaging. When acid rain falls it pollutes the water bodies.

A number of physical, chemical and biochemical processes cause the alteration of

groundwater properties, either by the addition of new elements or changing the present

concentrations. For example:

Arsenic contamination in the groundwater is thought to be the largest case of water

pollution in the world.

Industrial and household wastes disposed of on the ground above seeps into the

water underground.

Fertilisers used in agriculture and infiltration of saline water also contaminate

groundwater.

Effects of water pollution

Water pollution leads to many health problems. Drinking impure water leads to diseases such

as diarrhoea. Other serious contaminants may lead to more serious illnesses, such as

arsenicosis.

Comprehension Questions

1. List the sources of air and water pollution in Bangladesh.

Describe the effects of any one of the above pollutions.

Possible solutions to the problem of water pollution

There can probably be no direct solution to the problem. People in general need to be more

conscious of their waste disposal mechanisms. Proper waste treatment facilities need to be

installed in factories so that the waste released into the environment is less harmful. Proper

precautionary measures should be taken if a material that may at times be harmful to the

environment is to be released there. Such materials may include pesticides or fertilisers, and

their effects on the environment should be carefully noted before they are to be used.

Comprehension Questions

1. Describe two ways in which rural water pollution can be minimised.

List the methods that factories can use to minimise water pollution.

Conclusion

Almost all environmental challenges are interconnected, and one problem will lead to another

- e.g. deforestation can lead to global warming and climatic change, which can lead to

drought. So each problem may not necessarily have a particular solution. Possible solutions

in tackling the environmental problems of the country are:

Legislation: Various environmental laws have been made from time to time in

Bangladesh in order to protect environmental health, control environmental pollution and

conserve natural and cultural resources.

Education on environment and mass awareness are essential for achieving

sustainable development.

Land: Measures should be taken to preserve existing land and enhance its quality -

e.g. hill cutting should be stopped, which is greatly increasing erosion. Land reclamation

must be a major undertaking to create new land in the delta.

Water pollution: Industrial effluent discharge which carries toxic waste loads is

polluting the water sources. This has obviously caused harm to the health of people in

affected areas. So precautionary measures should be taken to minimise the discharge of

effluents.

Urbanisation affects the environment both in the physical (through deforestation, soil

erosion and change in micro-climate) and social sphere (air and water pollution and

increased noise, stress and crime). Therefore a proper National Land Use Plan is

essential.

Greenhouse gases: Bangladesh will suffer most from the rise of sea-level due to the

greenhouse effect. Therefore reduction and possible elimination of the emission of

'greenhouse' gases by industrial processes should be a main concern both at home and

abroad.

Biomass: Bangladesh has one of the lowest per capita rates of energy consumption

in the world. However, the vast and growing population has created an unsustainable

pressure on the biomass resources. As a result, the forest resources have diminished to

a great extent. It is obvious that biomass production has to be increased and domestic

use of fuelwood has to be reduced. The large consumption of fuelwood by brickfields has

also to be reduced and piped natural gas and LPG has to be used more widely and

efficiently.

Trees: The keystone of Bangladesh's environmental protection plan is the protection

of tree cover. Trees provide resources for both humans and animals and also provide

protection to nature. The major objectives of any environmental policy should be to

increase the productivity of the horticultural trees and tree products from government

land.

Forest cover: 25% of the land area of a country must be under forest cover for a

desirable environmental and ecological balance. However, only 6% of Bangladesh’s land

area is under forest cover. This situation can be changed by massive afforestation

programmes.

Preservation of wildlife is part of the campaign to protect the natural bio-diversity, at

the same time enhancing the natural wealth and enriching the human environment.

Bio-diversity: The preservation of biological diversity is one of the major goals of the

international attempt to save the biosphere from environmental degradation. Bio-diversity

in Bangladesh is seriously threatened by extensive deforestation and drying up of

wetlands for winter rice cultivation.

Fertilisers: The indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers with continuous cropping of

HYV rice has created a serious soil erosion problem. This can be overcome by using

organic or green fertiliser.

Revision Activity

Fill in the following chart with notes, to summarise your study of Topic 4.

Use arrows to show connections between environmental challenges - for example, to show that

deforestation can lead to drought.

Environmental challenge Causes Effects Solutions Climate change Storms Floods Droughts Arsenic Deforestation Pollution

Add Comment

Copyright © University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate 2012.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 5 (a) Changing shares of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sectors.

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 5 of the ten Environment and Development Topics in the syllabus for the

Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies. The aims of this chapter are to develop an

understanding amongst students of the following issues:

the changing share of primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors in Bangladesh since 1947 and

the main reasons behind these changes (Topic 5a)

economic growth in Bangladesh compared with other countries (Topic 5b)

trends in 'human development indicators' (Topic 5c)

trends in urbanisation, migration, and landlessness and the main reasons behind these trends

(Topic 5d)

trends in changes in birth rates, death rates and population growth in Bangladesh and the main

reasons behind these trends (Topic 5e).

Topic 5a: Changing Shares of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sectors Purpose of this section

This section explains what "GDP", "primary, secondary and tertiary sectors" are and how they can

show the progress of the economy in Bangladesh.

What does the GDP tell us about the economy?

A simple measure of the total output produced in an economy is its Gross Domestic Product

or GDP. This is the sum of the value added in all the different sectors of an economy over the

course of a year.

The composition of the gross domestic product gives us further information about the

structure of the economy and its level of development. One way of breaking down the GDP of

a country is to look at the share of the primary sector (agriculture, fishing and mining), the

secondary sector (industry, manufacturing and construction), and the tertiary sector

(services) in GDP. This is a particularly interesting way of looking at the composition of GDP

since the shares of these sectors change as economies become more developed.

What is the primary sector?

source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Economists define the primary sector as the economic activities that involve using natural

resources. These activities include agriculture, fishing and mining. The most basic economic

societies are largely involved in primary sector activities as these activities are the most

essential for human survival.

While the products of the primary sector are vital for survival, they are generally not very

valuable products. Economies cannot get rich simply by producing agricultural products

unless the country has a lot of land and can mass-produce agricultural products using

mechanization. Some economies are also lucky to have large deposits of minerals or oil, and

these economies can get rich for a time by selling the products of their primary sectors as

long as supplies last. However, in general, primary sector activities are limited in scope and it

is very difficult to raise productivity in this sector without the development of mechanization.

Moreover, as the per capita income (the average income of a country) rises, the demand for

agricultural products generally grows at a much slower rate because there is a limit to how

much agricultural products each individual can consume. Countries generally become richer

by moving from agricultural production into manufacturing, and as the population gets richer,

they demand the consumption of a greater proportion of manufactured products. In general,

we would expect that as an economy becomes richer, the value of output of the primary

sector would decline as a share of the value produced by the whole economy.

What is the secondary sector?

source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

The secondary sector consists of activities that process and manufacture products. These

activities include manufacturing and construction of all types. Manufacturing can use natural

inputs from the primary sector, but can also use intermediate manufactured products from

other manufacturing sectors as inputs.

As economies become more productive, the share of the secondary sector in the total value

of output produced by the economy increases. This is because manufacturing makes

products that are more valuable than the products of the primary sector. Thus if economies

are to become richer, they have to produce a greater share of manufactured products. At the

same time, as incomes increase, the demand for manufactured products also increases. This

means that as countries become richer, they are likely to be producing more manufactured

products, and their populations will demand a greater share of manufactured products in their

consumption. We would expect that as an economy becomes richer, the value of the output of

the secondary sector would increase as a share of the value produced by the total economy.

What is the tertiary sector?

source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Finally, the tertiary sector is the service sector, which includes both low-productivity services,

such as domestic service or pulling rickshaws, as well as very high productivity services, such

as the modern financial sector.

The share of the service sector in rich and poor countries is more complex. Very poor

countries can have a large service sector because the absence of manufacturing jobs can

force poor people to seek incomes in low productivity services such as domestic service or

rickshaw pulling. As the economy becomes richer, many of these people will move out of

these low value services into secondary sector jobs such as manufacturing or construction.

Thus, initially economic development can result in a decline in the value of the output of the

tertiary sector as a share of the total value produced by the economy.

However, when economies become very rich, the value produced in the service sector can

rapidly increase as a share of the total value of the economy as labour shifts into very high-

value services such as advanced financial services, medicine, higher education and research.

But we would expect most service-sector activities in poor economies to be low value

services. We would therefore expect the service sector to decline in value in most poor

economies as the economy became richer.

The starting point for East Bengal in 1947: mainly agricultural

When Bangladesh became independent of British colonial rule in 1947, it was initially as East

Pakistan, the eastern wing of the new state of Pakistan. East Pakistan was carved out of the

British Indian provinces of Bengal and Assam, and consisted largely of the poorer, eastern

parts of the province of Bengal, which were mainly agrarian. The industrial base of Bengal

during the British period was around Calcutta, and this was lost by East Pakistan when

Bengal was divided as a result of the partition of 1947. Thus not only was Bengal poor during

the British period, the eastern part was particularly underdeveloped as it was largely

agricultural and it supplied rice and raw materials (such as jute) for the industrial belt near

Calcutta.

How did this compare with West Pakistan and India?

When this agrarian part of Bengal became part of the new state of Pakistan, it started with an

exceptionally low share of manufacturing industry in the total value of production in the

economy. West Pakistan was also largely non-industrial and supplied cotton and wheat for

industries located in Western India. Most of the industrial base of British India was in the parts

that remained in India after the 1947 partition, and so the share of manufacturing and industry

in India was higher than in either East or West Pakistan.

However, while both East and West Pakistan were both underdeveloped in terms of industry,

East Pakistan was more agrarian than West Pakistan and the share of the secondary sector

was even smaller in East Pakistan. The shares of the three sectors in India, West Pakistan

and East Pakistan in 1950, shortly after independence, are shown in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1 Indian Subcontinent Shares of Economic Sectors (percentage of Gross Domestic

Product) 1950. (Sources: Khan 1989: Table 2.1; 1999: Table 2; Ahmed and Amjad 1984:

Figure 1.1)

Faster industrial growth in West Pakistan

Subsequently, the economic development of East and West Pakistan diverged for a number

of reasons. Most of the Muslim traders and merchants who migrated from India to Pakistan in

1947 took up residence in West Pakistan. In addition, the government of Pakistan was

dominated by West Pakistanis and government assistance was biased towards industrialists

in West Pakistan. The result was that industrial growth was much faster in West Pakistan

compared to East Pakistan. Consequently, although the share of the secondary sector

increased in East Pakistan, it remained behind West Pakistan in terms of the degree of

industrialization. We can see this by comparing the sectoral composition of GNP in the two

wings of Pakistan in 1970, just before Bangladesh became an independent country (Figure

5.2).

Figure 5.2 East and West Pakistan Shares of Economic Sectors (percentage of gross

domestic product) 1970. Sources: (calculated from Khan 1989: Table 2.1; Ahmed and

Amjad 1984: Table 2.11; Amjad 1982: Table 1.2; Alamgir and Berlage 1974: Appendix C

Table 5)

Growth of the industrial and service sector in Bangladesh

After independence, the growth of the secondary sector accelerated in Bangladesh,

particularly in the 1980s. We can see this by looking at the changes in the sectoral

composition of GDP in Bangladesh since independence in the following table.

In the last two decades, Bangladesh has been remarkably successful in the development of

new manufacturing activities, especially the garments sector, processed foods,

pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and processed foods.

The service sector has also expanded with the growth of telecommunications, transportation,

and financial services. But the service sector is still dominated by low value-added services.

Figure 5.3 Bangladesh Shares of Economic Sectors (percentage of gross domestic product)

1990 and 2002. (Sources: World Bank various years; BBS various years).

Comprehension Questions

1. In your own words explain what is meant by the GDP.

Define each of the three economic sectors and give actual examples of the type of work

involved.

Resource Skills Activities

1. Draw four pie charts to show the economic structure of Bangladesh/East Pakistan in 1950,

1970, 1990 and 2002.

Describe the trends shown by the graphs you have drawn.

Add Comment

Copyright © University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate 2012.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 5 (b) Economic growth in Bangladesh compared with other countries

Purpose of this section

This section gives students an idea of how Bangladesh compares to other countries in terms

of prosperity and economic growth.

An overview

In 2002, Bangladesh was still one of the relatively poor countries of the world. However, it is

the eighth largest country in the world in terms of population, and currently it has one of the

highest economic growth rates amongst the poor countries. This means it is making very

good progress in reducing poverty and moving up the ladder in terms of relative prosperity.

How prosperous is Bangladesh compared to its neighbours?

The relative prosperity of Bangladesh compared to its neighbours can be seen in the following

table comparing the per capita incomes in US dollars of a number of Asian countries.

What is per capita income?

The per capita income is the average income of a country, which is obtained by taking its

gross national income in US dollars and dividing it by the total population.

It is a rough indicator of the relative prosperity of a country, but it is not a perfect measure.

This is because it does not tell us how incomes are distributed within the country. Two

countries with the same per capita income may have very different levels of poverty because

income may be distributed much more unevenly in one compared to the other. A second

problem is that the comparison of per capita incomes in US dollars is very sensitive to

changes in the exchange rates of local currencies with the US dollar.

Keeping these problems in mind, the per capita incomes can nevertheless give us some

broad indication of the relative prosperity of countries.

Figure 5.4 Comparison of Per capita incomes in US dollars in a selection of countries.

(Source: World Bank various years)

How fast is its growth compared to other countries?

While Bangladesh is still a low-income country, it has achieved a relatively high rate of growth

in the last decade and this has meant that it is moving up in terms of relative prosperity. The

relative growth rates of the same group of countries are shown in Figure 5.5.

Figure 5.5 Relative Growth Rates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Selected Countries

1990-2002. Source: World Bank various years.

Since growth rates have a compound effect, small differences in growth rates can result in

large differences in living standards over a few decades. Bangladesh has enjoyed a relatively

high growth rate in the decade since 1990. Its growth rate in the Indian subcontinent has been

higher than Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and only lower than India. It has also had a

higher growth rate than most African countries.

But China has left all the countries of the Indian subcontinent behind with its growth rates

near the 10 per cent mark for the last two decades, and this explains why China’s per capita

income has shot up recently, to more than double the average of the Indian subcontinent. In

earlier decades when Malaysia and Thailand were catching up with the advanced countries,

their growth rates too were close to 10 per cent per year. If Bangladesh is to catch up with the

standard of living already achieved by Thailand, Malaysia, and China, it will have to double its

growth rate from around 5 per cent of GDP per year to around 10 per cent per year.

Comprehension Questions

1. Define per capita income.

2. Explain why per capita income is not always a reliable indicator.

3. What needs to happen to the three economic sectors for economic growth to take

place?

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 5 (c) Trends in human development indicators

Purpose of this section

This section introduces students to the idea of ‘human development indicators’ and briefly

shows the progress Bangladesh has made in life expectancy, poverty and literacy.

Overview

One of the implications of the relatively high economic growth rates achieved in the last

decade in Bangladesh has been a decline in the levels of poverty, and some improvement in

human development indicators.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth was only 39.6 years in 1960. This was significantly below the life

expectancy at birth in India at the time of 44 years and in (West) Pakistan of 43.1 years. But

by 2002, the life expectancy at birth in Bangladesh was 62 years. This is not very different

from the life expectancy at birth of 63 years in India and 64 years in Pakistan in 2002. In other

words, by being able to follow independent policies after 1971, and in particular by achieving

high rates of growth since the 1980s, Bangladesh had virtually caught up with the South

Asian average life expectancy. Since life expectancy depends on many factors including

nutrition, health care and the distribution of income, it is a good indicator of the general level

of development.

Poverty

In overall poverty too, Bangladesh has moved from its extreme vulnerability in the early

seventies to a position similar to India, though poverty is still more pronounced according to

this measure compared to Pakistan. The percentage of the population in 2002 below the

international poverty line of $1 a day or less is shown in Figure 5.6.

Figure 5.6 Percentage of the population living on less than $1 a day in 2002. (Source: World

Bank various years).

Literacy

On other indicators, Bangladesh still lags behind other South Asian countries. This is

particularly true for adult literacy rates. In 1970, the adult (over the age of 15) literacy rate in

Bangladesh was only 24%. This was better than the 21% adult literacy rate in (West) Pakistan

at that time, but was significantly worse than the adult literacy rate of 34% in India. By 2002,

the adult literacy rate in Bangladesh had increased to 41% but it still lagged significantly

behind India’s adult literacy rate of 60%. But overall, while many areas remain where

improvements have to be made, Bangladesh has made significant progress in economic

development and poverty reduction since independence.

source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Comprehension Question

Define life expectancy, poverty and literacy rate.

Discussion/Reflection Question

Why do you think the life expectancy and literacy rates have increased?

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 5 (d) Trends in Urbanisation, Migration and Landlessness

Purpose of this section

This section explains the movement of people – from rural areas to other rural areas, to the

city and overseas – and how this compares with neighbouring countries.

Urbanisation

In advanced economies, on average roughly 80% of the population lives in urban areas, and

are involved in secondary and tertiary activities. Even in rural areas, agriculture accounts for a

very small part of economic activity. In developing countries, the reverse is the case. Most

people live in rural areas and many of them are directly involved in agriculture. As the

economy develops and industry and manufacturing take off, the share of urbanisation

increases.

Why do people migrate to urban areas?

But the migration to the urban areas can begin before jobs are created in industry and

services in urban areas, as poor people abandon the poverty of rural life and start moving to

slum areas in urban conurbations. Many of them remain poor but manage to make a living in

the urban informal sector in activities like small workshops, rickshaw pulling, street vending,

and domestic service. Others remain unemployed and find occasional work on construction

sites or as day labourers. A few can even engage in begging and crime.

Not all the increase in the urban population is due to the demand of growing industrial and

service sectors. A significant part of the growth of the urban population can be due to the

excess supply of population from rural areas migrating to the towns, and particularly to the

capital city, in search of jobs.

What problems can it cause?

Urban areas in developing countries can therefore have significant problems with poverty and

crime. There is also likely to be growing pressure on the urban infrastructure in terms of

demand for water, living accommodation, sanitation, and waste disposal.

How does urbanisation in Bangladesh compare with its neighbours?

The share of urbanisation in Bangladesh compared to neighbouring countries is shown in the

following chart.

Figure 5.7 Urbanization in South Asia 1970-93. (Source: World Bank various years).

Figure 5.7 shows that the urban population as a share of total population was significantly

lower in Bangladesh compared to both India and Pakistan not only in 1970, but also in 1993.

However, the rate of growth of the urban population was significantly higher in Bangladesh

compared to India and Pakistan. As a result, the share of the urban population doubled in

Bangladesh between 1970 and 1993 (from 8% to 17% of the total population), while the

growth in the share was less dramatic in India and Pakistan. The higher rates of growth of the

urban population in Bangladesh are likely to continue and Bangladesh is likely to reach Indian

rates of urbanisation in the next decade or so. Note that the rate of growth of population in

urban areas is more than twice as high as the growth rate of population in Bangladesh. This

suggests that rural-urban migration is a significant factor explaining the rapid growth in the

urban population.

The capital city

There is a significant difference between urbanisation in Bangladesh from that in

neighbouring countries. In India and Pakistan, the capital city is a small part of the total urban

population. In India the capital city accounts for only 4% of the total urban population, while in

Pakistan the capital city accounts for only 1% of the total urban population. In contrast, in

Bangladesh, Dhaka accounts for 40% of the total urban population and it is the only mega-city

in Bangladesh. If most of the urban growth is happening in only one city in Bangladesh, the

pressures on infrastructure in Dhaka city are correspondingly greater.

Dhaka accounts for 40% of the total urban population. (source: Banglapedia, Asiatic

Society of Bangladesh)

Rural-rural migration

Apart from rural-urban migration, there is also a considerable amount of rural-rural migration

in Bangladesh, as people migrate from their village to neighbouring villages in search of jobs.

Migration to other countries

But much more important is the migration from Bangladesh to other countries. It is estimated

that in 2003, around 3 million Bangladeshis were working in foreign countries and sending

back money to their families in Bangladesh. A further 1 million Bangladeshis were

permanently settled in other countries with foreign nationality or residence rights. The

remittances sent back by Bangladeshi workers through official channels amounted to 3 billion

US dollars. It is estimated that at least another 3 billion dollars were remitted through

unofficial channels such as the hundi system of money transfer where money is transferred

through private moneychangers without going through the formal banking system.

The remittances coming through the formal banking system was almost three times greater

than the total amount of foreign aid that Bangladesh received and around half of its total

exports.

How does this affect Bangladesh?

Bangladeshis working in the Middle East and in South East Asia are therefore making a

significant contribution to Bangladesh’s foreign exchange earnings. Their remittances are also

sustaining many poor families in rural areas where the money from family members working

abroad is often the only source of income.

However, there is not much evidence that the families in Bangladesh make use of the

remittances to go into sustainable business activities. Rather, much of the remittances are

used for consumption or for buying land, which does not directly improve the output of the

Bangladeshi economy. Nevertheless, the foreign exchange remittances do allow Bangladesh

to pay for its imports and to make foreign exchange available for businessmen who need it to

import machinery or raw materials. One reason why the families of migrant workers do not

directly go into business using their foreign exchange remittances is that most migrant

workers from Bangladesh come from very poor rural families.

Almost 2.5 million of the 3 million migrant workers from Bangladesh are unskilled workers

who earn very little in relative terms. Their families in Bangladesh are very dependent on their

remittances for their consumption and they often do not have the skills or resources to start

up their own businesses.

The evidence from India suggests that productive enterprises are usually set up by the

families of skilled migrants who can productively invest the money sent back to them, or by

the skilled migrants themselves when they return with new skills and capital. The Indian

software sector was set up in this way. If the number of skilled Bangladeshi workers were to

increase, they could make significant productive contributions to the Bangladesh economy,

even more than the contribution that migrant workers are currently making.

On the other hand, the departure of skilled people also has negative implications, as

professional skills are lost to the domestic economy. The departure of doctors, engineers, and

other skilled professionals is particularly severely felt in Bangladesh because these

professionals are in very short supply. Their departure can only have a positive impact if they

eventually return with new capital, or if their remittances allow their relatives to set up

productive and employment-generating activities.

Landlessness

Landlessness is one of the most important factors in rural Bangladesh that is driving

migration, particularly from rural to urban areas.

What has caused landlessness?

The pressure of population growth in Bangladesh together with the subdivision of land

through inheritance has led to the growth of very small plots of land, many of which are

economically unviable. In 1995, 72.7% of farms in Bangladesh were less than 2.5 acres in

size, and even these were often made up of several plots of land that were not connected to

each other.

How does it affect people?

The owners of very small farms often live from hand to mouth, and these poor farmers can

easily go bankrupt if the harvest is poor or if there is a drought or flood. About 50% of the rural

population is already functionally landless, which means that they do not have enough land to

engage in farming. Although landlessness is not growing rapidly, it is already very high, and

the number of very small farms is growing as a percentage of the total. The implication is that

poor people in rural Bangladesh often have to find non-agricultural employment, either in the

rural areas in rural non-farm activities, or by migrating to urban areas, or even to other

countries.

What can be done?

This type of migration is not necessarily a problem, and similar migrations have happened in

other countries in the past. The challenge for Bangladesh is to create non-farm jobs fast

enough to absorb this population and create more wealth for the economy. As we have seen,

the transition from an agricultural to a non-agricultural economy is a common pattern in other

countries. Moreover, this shift is also desirable since it is a way of moving from low-

productivity to high-productivity activities, thereby increasing per capita incomes in the

economy.

In the case of Bangladesh, the shift is even more desirable since the pressure of population

on the land is such that the average size of farm is far too small for efficient farming or

mechanization that could raise farm productivity to international standards. At the same time,

productivity on existing farms has to be raised as much as possible through investments in

irrigation, new seeds and better fertilisers so that as much labour as possible can be retained

in agriculture while other sectors are being developed.

Comprehension Questions

1. Define urbanization.

2. Why has urbanization increased in Bangladesh?

3. List three types of migration that affect life in Bangladesh.

4. How can families in Bangladesh benefit from money sent by migrant workers?

5. What are the disadvantages of international migration for Bangladesh?

6. Explain the problems caused by landlessness.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 5 (e) Trends in birth rates, death rates and population growth rates

Purpose of this section

This section explains changes in birth rates, death rates and population growth in Bangladesh and

compared with neighbouring countries.

< h3> What are birth rates, death rates and population growth rates?

Birth and death rates measure the numbers of births and deaths per 1000 people in the population.

The difference between the two rates results in population growth over time.

What has happened to the population growth rate in Bangladesh?

In the 1960s and 1970s, Bangladesh had very high birth and death rates, but the birth rate

was much higher than the death rate, resulting in high population growth rates.

In the 1980s, both the birth and death rates started decreasing but the decline in birth rates

was much more significant. This resulted in a significant decline in the population growth rate

in Bangladesh.

Why has the population growth rate fallen in Bangladesh?

The result was due to the gradual success of family planning measures, better education, and

gradually improving living conditions and reductions in poverty. The reduction of poverty is

important for reducing birth rates because very poor people have large families. For very poor

people, it is not possible to provide for their children anyway, and there is little cost in having a

very large family. On the contrary, many children can assist the family in making a meagre

living on the margins of society by contributing to income earning activities.

As families become better off, they want to invest in the education of their children, and

having very large families is no longer sensible. High birth rates can also reflect the lack of

power on the part of women to plan their families. An improvement in the education of women

has often contributed to better family planning and in further investments in the education of

children. The rapid decline in birth rates in Bangladesh during the 1980s and 1990s has been

due to all these reasons.

Trends compared to neighbouring countries

Birth Rate per 1000 population Death rate per 1000 population Population Growth Rate 1970 1993 1970 1993 1970-1980 1980-1990 1990-2002 Bangladesh 48 35 21 11 2.8 2.4 1.7 India 39 29 16 10 2.2 2.1 1.8 Pakistan 48 40 19 9 2.6 3.1 2.5

Figure 5.8 Birth Rates, Death Rates and Population Growth Rates for selected countries.

(Source: World Bank various years).

Bringing its population under control has been one of the major achievements of Bangladesh

in the last twenty years. From the highest population growth rate amongst the big three South

Asian countries during 1970-80, Bangladesh has achieved the lowest population growth rate

in these countries during 1990-2003. But the population growth rate in all the South Asian

countries was much higher than the 1 per cent growth of population achieved in China during

1990-2002.

Resource Skills Activity

Draw bar graphs to show the birth and death rates for 1970 and 1993 for Bangladesh.

Comprehension Question

Why have the birth and death rates declined?

References

Ahmed, V. and Amjad, R. 1984. The Management of Pakistan’s Economy: 1947-82.

Karachi: Oxford University Press.

Alamgir, M. and Berlage, L. 1974. Bangladesh: National Income and Expenditure

1949/50-1969/70. Research Monograph No. 1. Bangladesh Institute of Development

Studies: Dhaka.

Amjad, R. 1982. Private Industrial Investment in Pakistan 1960-1970. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

BBS various years. (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics) Statistical Yearbook of

Bangladesh. Statistics Division Ministry of Planning, Government of the People's Republic

of Bangladesh: Dhaka.

Khan, M. H. 1989. Clientelism, Corruption and Capitalist Development. PhD

dissertation, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge.

Khan, M. H. 1999. The Political Economy of Industrial Policy in Pakistan 1947-1971

No. 98, SOAS Department of Economics Working Paper: School of Oriental and African

Studies, University of London.

World Bank various years. World Development Report. Oxford University Press: New

York.

Add Comment

Copyright © University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate 2012.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 6 (a) Factors affecting agricultural production

Purpose of this chapter

The aims of this chapter are to give an understanding of the agricultural sector in Bangladesh relating to

the following aspects:

physical and human factors affecting agricultural production (Topic 6a)

a study of subsistence/food crops such as rice, wheat, pulses and oil seeds (Topic 6b)

the importance of commercial crops such as jute, tea and sugar cane (Topic 6c)

the impact of new technologies in agriculture (Topic 6d).

Introduction

Agriculture is critical to the growth and stability of Bangladesh’s economy. It accounts for one-

third of the country’s GDP and employs two-thirds of the labour force. Apart from the garment

manufacturing industry, it is the major source of export earnings for the country. As the

economy modernises and develops, it is expected that the share of agricultural output in the

gross output of the economy will decline. But in the near future, the sector will continue to be

the single largest contributor to the income and employment of the rural population.

Topic 6a: Factors affecting agricultural production Purpose of this section

This section explains how agriculture in Bangladesh depends on physical and human factors and that

despite many constraints, Bangladesh has experienced agricultural growth.

The key factors constraining the growth of agricultural production in Bangladesh are a

combination of physical and human elements and can be summarised as follows:

land scarcity expressed as a low land–person ratio

poverty of farmers slowing down investment in mechanisation and new technologies

ecological factors making Bangladeshi agriculture prone to both drought and

flooding and requiring large investments in flood control

weak legal institutions preventing clear property rights in land that encourages land

disputes and prevents investment in land

inadequate physical infrastructure in the form of roads and communication that

make it difficult to take agricultural products to markets.

Comprehension Questions

Above are listed some factors constraining agricultural production. Which of them are physical factors

and which are human factors?

Land scarcity

The land scarcity in Bangladesh can be seen by looking at the average size of farms. In 1995,

72.7% of farms in Bangladesh were less than 2.5 acres in size and they collectively

accounted for only 36.8% of the total arable land. Another 23.1% of farms were between 2.5

and 7.5 acres in size and accounted for a further 43.4% of the total arable land. Only 4% of

farms were over 7.5 acres in size, and they covered 20.7% of the total land.

In many advanced countries where farming is mechanised, farms of 7.5 acres would count as

small farms, but in Bangladesh they count as large farms and only 4% of farms are bigger

than this. Moreover, in Bangladesh, a farmer owning 7.5 acres of land probably does not own

the land in a single plot, but rather as a number of disconnected small plots that may be quite

far apart from each other. All these factors mean that mechanisation and large-scale farming

are very difficult to organise in Bangladesh.

Finally, it should be remembered that as much as 50% of rural households are functionally

landless, which means that they own at most 0.5 acres of land on which they may have a

home, but they own no land to farm. These large numbers of landless families survive by

working on the land of others, but most importantly by also engaging in non-agricultural

activities in the rural areas, including different types of informal service activities, such as

pulling rickshaws, working in shops, and so on.

Poverty

Apart from the fragmentation of land, one consequence of very small farms is that farmers are

generally poor, and even the owners of relatively large farms in Bangladesh often do not have

the resources to invest in mechanisation, such as use of tractors, power pumps, harvesters,

or trucks for transportation of produce to markets. One indicator of this is that in 2000, only

17% of the total land was irrigated with power pumps.

Environmental factors

Environmental constraints also affect all aspects of agricultural production, affecting both

subsistence/food crops as well as cash/commercial crops. In Bangladesh, nearly all cultivable

land is used for the production of crops. The limited land is regularly subject to both drought

and flooding, which affects the overall growth in agriculture.

Seasonal variations

On an annual basis, the country receives more water than it needs but a large seasonal

variation affects the productivity of agriculture. In the monsoon season (May-October) there is

an excess supply of water, while in the virtually rainless period (November-April) there is a

scarcity. It is estimated that nearly a third of the total cultivated land is annually flooded by at

least 3ft of water. Though such flooding can be useful for monsoon crops, it acts as a

constraint on crop production.

A significant proportion of the cultivable land (15%) cannot grow any crops during the

monsoon season. Varying flood levels also cause direct damage to crops and the uncertainty

of flooding with regard to area, depth, duration, and time of occurrence constrains long-term

agricultural development. Intensive land cultivation all year round is the simplest way of

increasing production. This is not possible, however, due to excess flooding during the

monsoon and the absence of appropriate irrigation facilities during the dry period.

Regional variations

There is also considerable regional variation in the ecology of Bangladesh that affects

agricultural production. The country can be roughly divided into four equal parts based on

hydrological differences:

Northwest (north of the Ganges and West of Jamuna): The monsoons are shorter

with a low dry season rainfall. Additionally, droughts are more likely to occur and there is

a scarcity of surface water.

Northeast (areas between Meghna, Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers including the

Sylhet basin): Here the key issue is flooding, particularly during the monsoon season.

Southeast and Southwest: This area suffers from both droughts in the dry season and

floods during the monsoon season. Both floods and droughts are serious with the floods

being tidal in nature.

Overall rainfall ranges from 50 inches per year in much of the northwest and southwest to 200

inches in parts of northeast and southeast. The hydrological conditions crucially determine

agricultural land use and cropping patterns thus directly affecting production levels.

Institutional constraints

The institutional constraints to agricultural growth come from the poor law and order situation

in much of rural Bangladesh. Most of the violence in rural Bangladesh is due to disputes over

land caused by conflicting claims on the same piece of land. Land records are not always

accurate and there are different records kept in different offices, opening up the possibility of

long legal cases that cost a lot and are subject to additional costs due to bribes and

corruption. These land disputes mean that owners are never sure of the future of their land

ownership and this too can dampen the enthusiasm to invest.

Infrastructure

Finally, in a poor country, agricultural infrastructure is necessarily underdeveloped. There are

inadequate roads, bridges, irrigation networks and flood control systems. This is a major

constraint on agricultural production, particularly given the ecology of Bangladesh. It is not

possible for individual farmers to deal with flooding or the absence of roads or other

communication networks to their village, without government funds being available for this

infrastructural investment. In the long run, agricultural growth is most seriously constrained by

the low levels of investment in agricultural infrastructure.

Conclusion 1980-1990 1990-2000 Bangladesh 2.7 2.9 India 3.1 3.0 Pakistan 4.3 4.4 Low Income Average 3.0 2.5

Table 6.1 Agricultural growth rates 1980-2000. Source: World Bank World Development

Indicators 2002

Despite these constraints, as Table 6.1 shows, Bangladesh agriculture has not done too

badly over the last two decades. Bangladesh’s agricultural growth rate has been comparable

to the low-income country average, though it has been a little bit lower than the growth rates

achieved in neighbouring India and Pakistan. We will see that this creditable performance has

been due to the rapid spread of the Green Revolution in Bangladesh.

Comprehension Questions

1. Why do you think mechanisation and large-scale farming are difficult to organise in

Bangladesh?

Briefly discuss the environmental factors that affect agricultural operations in Bangladesh.

Add Comment

Copyright © University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate 2012.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 6 (b) Subsistence/food crops

Purpose of this section

This section introduces students to the principal food crops grown in Bangladesh. It describes

the environmental requirements for different varieties of rice and encourages students to find

out how rice, wheat, pulses and oil seeds are produced.

Introduction

Bangladesh is blessed with favourable natural conditions for the production of a range of

crops all year round. In general, there is a greater variety of winter crops than crops grown

during the monsoon seasons. Bangladesh made significant progress in crop agriculture with

food grain production almost doubling between 1969/70 to 1992/93. Foodgrains form the

largest sub-sector in agriculture.

The principal subsistence/food crops are:

rice

wheat

oilseeds

pulses.

Rice

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Rice is the dominant crop in Bangladesh, covering 75% of the cropped area, and comprises

70% of the value of crop output. The three principal rice crops are:

Aman: is planted in August and harvested in December. This is traditionally the main

rice crop. It is still grown under rain-fed conditions making it vulnerable to drought and

flood thereby risking crop losses.

Boro: is planted in December and harvested in May/June. This crop has shown

remarkable growth because of increased irrigation. It is leading agricultural development

in Bangladesh and this crop clearly reveals the importance of technology in the form of

High Yielding Varieties of seeds (HYV), which now account for over 90% of boro

cultivation.

Aus: is planted in April and harvested in July. This crop has slowly lost out to boro in

terms of production.

Crops are grown seasonally depending on soil conditions. Crops cultivated during the

monsoon season depend critically on the depth and nature of flooding. During the pre-

monsoon and post-monsoon (rabi) seasons, the pattern is determined by:

internal drainage of the soil

availability of soil moisture

storage capacity for soil moisture.

For example, Aus is primarily cultivated in high to medium high land (flooding depth not

exceeding 90cm), while Aman needs flooding as high as 180cm and is mainly grown in

medium to low land. However, Boro is cultivated in very poorly drained soil with ample

provision of irrigation and an absence of flooding before harvesting in May.

Rice Cultivation in Bangladesh. Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Wheat

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Pulses

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, pulses consist of six major crops: lentil, khesari, blackgram, mungbean,

chickpea, and pigeon pea. These are very important, both as a source of protein supply in the

diet as well as contributing nitrogen for soil nutrition. The cropped area under pulses has

declined owing to the greater emphasis on HYV rice and wheat in the last two decades.

Oil seed

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Groundnuts, sunflower and soybean are cultivated for the production of vegetable oil.

Vegetable oil is often the main source of fats in the Bangladeshi diet and efforts are being

made to increase production of improved varieties of oil seeds.

Comprehension Questions

1. Explain in your own words the importance of Boro rice for Bangladesh agriculture.

2. What are the different varieties of pulse? Why are they important?

Research Task

Choose rice, wheat, pulses or oil seeds. Find out how the crop you have chosen is produced.

Make brief notes under the following headings and report back to your class.

Inputs - physical Inputs - human Processes Outputs

Rice:

Aman

Rice:

Boro

Rice:

Aus

Wheat

Pulses

Oil seeds

Add Comment

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 6 (c) Cash/commercial crops

Purpose of this section

This section briefly explains the importance of cash crops and some of the constraints on

their expansion.

Introduction

The overwhelming share of food crops is produced for subsistence and any surplus is sold in

the internal market. In recent years, Bangladesh has achieved near self-sufficiency in foods.

A number of other crops are cultivated primarily for sale in the market and these have

historically formed the core of the country’s export earnings. With the rise in exports in the

garment sector as a result of industrialisation, the “historical“ cash crops have lost their pre-

eminence but they still contribute to overall agricultural growth.

The principal cash crops produced are:

jute

sugarcane

tea.

Jute

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

In spite of the relative decline of jute, it is still the main fibre crop in Bangladesh. Production of

jute fibre reached a high of 8.66 million bales in 1985/86, but by 1992/93 it had declined to

4.92 million bales. The share of raw jute and jute goods has been continuously declining as a

share of total exports. The jute industry has also been declining over time because of low

investment and declining world markets.

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

However, farmers are being encouraged to intensify jute production through the provision of

better quality seeds and credit support. The output of jute is important not just for exports but

also as a raw material for Bangladesh’s large domestic jute industry. About half the total jute

crop is consumed by the domestic jute industry, whose profitability depends on the price of

raw jute.

Sugarcane

Because it is an annual crop, sugarcane keeps the land occupied throughout the year.

Consequently, some farmers are inclined to cultivate other profitable crops rather than

sugarcane. This has resulted in a decline in crop acreage as well as the production of the

commodity in recent years.

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Tea

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Tea is a labour-intensive, export-oriented product in the agricultural sector. It is both a source

of export earnings as well as providing employment in labour-intensive plantations. Tea is

grown in private sector plantations and processed for consumption in the domestic market

and for export.

1998/99 1999/2000 2000/01 Wheat 1,908 1,840 1,673 Rice 34,601 37,628 38,500 Sugar cane 6,951 6,910 6,742 Lentils 131 128 126 Other pulses 183 187 174 Tea 56 46 52 Jute 711 821 859

Table 6.2: Principal crops (‘000 metric tons, year ending 30 June)

Resource Skills Activity

1. Look at Figure 6.2. Which crops increased in production each year between 1998

and 2001, and which crops decreased?

2. Why do you think this has happened? Can you find some of the reasons in the text?

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 6 (d) New technologies

Purpose of this section

This section explains some of the positive and negative impact of new technologies in

agriculture.

Introduction

Over the past two decades, Bangladesh has achieved considerable growth in agricultural

production and achieved virtual self-sufficiency in food production. This has been possible

primarily as a result of increasing use of High Yielding Varieties of rice seeds (HYV

technology). The cultivation of such crops has required an increased use of fertiliser and

enhanced and appropriate irrigation. The introduction and spread of this package is

commonly referred to as the Green Revolution.

Why the Green Revolution in Bangladesh?

Despite the constraints on Bangladeshi agricultural growth that we mentioned earlier, the

Green Revolution has extended itself in Bangladeshi agriculture because these technologies

can be adopted by the relatively small farms that characterise Bangladeshi agriculture. The

combination of new seeds, appropriate fertilisers and irrigation are largely “scale neutral”,

which means that farms of all sizes can profitably adopt these technologies as long as they

can find relatively small amounts of capital for investment. This is why Bangladeshi small

farms have not been disadvantaged in adopting these technologies.

The impetus behind adopting the Green Revolution technology in Bangladesh came from the

country’s attempts to acquire self-sufficiency in food production. As the total cropped land

area was fixed, given the topography of the country and the very limited virgin land, it was

logical to embrace the Green Revolution to feed a growing population. The key components

of the Green Revolution were:

High Yielding Varieties of Seeds (HYV)

chemical fertilisers

irrigation.

HYV seeds and fertilisers

HYV seeds perform best with chemical fertilisers. Yields are high only if high levels of

fertilisers are applied at the right time. Farmers using HYV seeds therefore have to invest in

chemical fertilisers if they are to profit from the potentially higher yields of these seeds.

Fertiliser prices in Bangladesh have been subsidised through a number of mechanisms. This

has been possible because Bangladesh has its own domestic fertiliser industry that produces

fertilisers using its large domestic gas reserves. There has been a continuous increase in

fertiliser consumption. The total consumption of different types of fertilisers was 3.45 million

metric tons in 1996/97, projected to increase to 4.50 million metric tons by 2002-2003. At the

farm level, the most popular chemical fertilisers are urea 70%, TSP (triple super phosphates)

and SSP (single super phosphate) 20%, and MOP (muriate of potash) 10%.

Issues

While the spread of the Green Revolution in Bangladesh has been beneficial overall, it has

also raised a number of problems, and a number of constraints set limits to the further spread

of the Green Revolution in the future.

Damaging soil

First, there are a number of problems arising from such an extensive use of fertilisers. Without

balanced use, there is the possibility of damaging the soil structure. To maintain soil condition

it is important to ensure an adequate increase of organic and bio-fertilisers.

Training

At a practical level, it is important to ensure the proper use of fertilisers in remote areas as

well as the training of cultivators to enable them to acquire the ability to use the proper dose

and combination of fertilisers.

Irrigation difficulties

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

As mentioned earlier, availability of water at different periods of the year is an essential

element in crop production. This is possible though irrigation. It is not surprising that the

spread of the Green Revolution has been most extensive in areas where irrigation is already

most developed. But most Bangladeshi farms are very small and this represents a major

obstacle to the extension of the Green Revolution in Bangladesh. The fact that individual

farms are small sets limits to the extension of the new technology, such as irrigation and

tractors, making their introduction that much more difficult.

Problems of under-utilisation of irrigation equipment are also common because of the pattern

of land ownership and because of water distribution difficulties. There are frequent complaints

about water shortages during critical periods in the crop cycle, which, because HYV yields are

relatively sensitive to the timing of irrigation, can be very costly for small-scale farmers. These

disruptions can usually be attributed either to political factors in the management of the

distribution of water at a local level, or to wider difficulties with the maintenance of equipment

or the supply of diesel fuel or electricity.

It is estimated that currently only 32% of net cultivated area is under irrigation, although a

recent survey suggests that this could be expanded to around 60% of the cultivable area.

Such an expansion could result in almost a doubling of foodgrain production in Bangladesh.

Most of the existing irrigation (around 75%) is based on small-scale tube-wells and lift pumps

operated by individual farmers or collectives. But irrigation based on the lifting of huge

quantities of ground water can also cause problems. In recent years, excessive irrigation has

resulted in concentrations of natural arsenic and widespread arsenic poisoning in rural

Bangladesh (see Topic 4).

Fertiliser use slowing down

Another factor constraining further growth in the agricultural sector is that small-scale farmers

do not want to take on high risks and therefore resist increasing fertiliser use at the same rate

as larger-scale farmers. Consequently, the growth in fertiliser use has been slowing down.

The government has been attempting to encourage fertiliser use by subsidising its price, but

this strategy has resulted in more exports to neighbouring countries rather than an increase in

domestic utilisation.

Conclusion

These factors suggest that while the Green Revolution has been very successful in

Bangladesh up to a point, and even medium-sized farms have been able to benefit from

adopting these technologies, there are limits to how far it can spread. These limits exist

because of the very small size of most of Bangladesh’s farms, the lack of adequate irrigation,

and the aversion to risk that very small farmers have. Further growth of agricultural production

is likely to require investments in infrastructure for irrigation, as well as some consolidation of

farms into larger operating units that can afford to invest in new technologies.

Comprehension questions

1. Define Green Revolution.

2. What are the names of the fertilisers used in Bangladesh?

Discussion/Reflection Task

‘The Green Revolution has been the single-greatest boon to Bangladesh’.

Argue against or in favour of this proposition.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 7 (a) The importance of industrialisation to Bangladesh’s development

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 7 of the ten Environment & Development Topics in the syllabus for

the Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies (syllabus 7094, Paper 2).

The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of the main issues in Bangladesh’s industrial

sector with a particular emphasis on:

the importance of industrialisation to Bangladesh’s development, including

obstacles, roles, and policy changes (Topic 7a)

types of industries and their characteristics (Topic 7b).

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Topic 7a: The importance of industrialisation to Bangladesh’s development Purpose of this section

This section explains:

the importance of industrialisation to Bangladesh’s development

obstacles to overcome

the role of the state, private sector and multinational corporations

the impact of policy changes (e.g. privatisation, infant).

Why is industry important to Bangladesh?

The industrial sector has historically been the sector that has driven growth as countries have

moved from low to middle-income status. This is because industry can provide high-wage

employment for large numbers of workers and can raise social productivity by producing high-

value goods on a mass scale. Poor countries can earn valuable foreign exchange by

exporting manufactured products and the foreign exchange can be used to invest in newer

machines and technologies so that a rapid move up the technology ladder becomes possible.

The average productivity of industry is higher than in agriculture or most service-sector

activities, so as people move out of agriculture into industry, gross domestic production (GDP)

increases. Bangladesh as a country with a poor land-person ratio is unlikely to prosper

through agricultural growth alone. Agriculture is unlikely to deliver rapid growth in Bangladesh

because of the difficulty of setting up large-scale farms that can compete with countries that

specialize in agriculture such as Australia or Argentina.

Nor does Bangladesh have natural resources that can be exploited, with the exception of

natural gas. Thus, industrialization and specialization in manufacturing is the obvious way in

which Bangladesh can raise its per capita income and social productivity. The industrial

sector consists of manufacturing, together with utilities (gas, electricity, and water) and

construction.

Resource Skills Activity

Look at Figure 7.1. What does it tell you about industrial growth in Bangladesh

compared to other countries?

Figure 7.1 Comparative industrial growth rates 1980-1997

Figure 7.1 shows that Bangladesh has indeed been quite successful in recent years in

achieving rapid manufacturing growth compared to many of its competitors. The challenge for

Bangladesh is to sustain these high growth rates and to develop new manufacturing sectors

that can follow in the footsteps of high growth manufacturing sectors like the garments

industry.

The industrial sector accounted for 26.3% of GDP in 2003, with manufacturing (a subset of

the industrial sector) accounting for 15.8% of GDP. The industrial sector as a whole employed

about 10% of the total workforce of Bangladesh.

Obstacles to overcome

A number of different types of obstacles need to be overcome if industrial performance has to

improve further.

General environment

The first type of obstacle relates to the general environment in which industrial investment is

taking place. These obstacles include the legal framework, law enforcement, and the quality

of infrastructure. It is difficult to encourage investors in an environment where contracts are

easily violated and courts cannot enforce contracts easily, where strikes and hartals are

frequent occurrences, and where the physical infrastructure in terms of communication

networks, roads, ports, and even electricity supply is not satisfactory.

Thus, an important precondition for industrial investment to be significantly increased is for

these shortcomings in the investment environment to be addressed. This requires action by

the state, and even if not all of these conditions can be immediately addressed, progress on a

number of fronts may be sufficient to have a significant impact on industrial investment.

State assistance

The second type of obstacle is more difficult to address but is no less important. This obstacle

is the absence of support from the state targeted towards specific entrepreneurs and

industries to accelerate their development. Developing countries like Bangladesh typically

have entrepreneurs who are unable to compete in international markets because they do not

have the experience and knowledge of new technologies, market opportunities, and legal

systems. Their ability to start competing in these new markets can be greatly accelerated if

some assistance could be provided by the state. However, this assistance must be very

carefully determined and not given without conditions or monitoring, otherwise such

assistance can easily lead to waste and inefficiency.

The assistance that can help new entrepreneurs in developing countries can take many

different forms, ranging from carrying out improvements to local infrastructure to improve the

viability of new enterprises, assistance with the training of workers and managers, assistance

with developing marketing in foreign countries, assistance with technology licensing and

establishing partnerships with foreign companies, and so on.

However, none of this assistance should be unconditional. The state has to have institutions

that can monitor the performance of new industries and withdraw support if progress is not

being made. The mistake that was made in many developing countries with strategies that

aimed to develop infant industries in the past was that when support was given, the state

failed to monitor performance, and even when it was known that performance was poor, the

state lacked the political will to withdraw support. This resulted in permanent inefficiency and

poor industrial performance, a feature that also affected Bangladesh’s experiments with

promoting infant industries in the past.

Finance

A third type of obstacle relates to the failure of the financial system to provide adequate

finance for the industrial sector. The financial sector in many developing countries like

Bangladesh suffers from historical bad debts because loans to industries that failed could not

be recovered. This is related to the point above, namely that government support for industry

failed in the past because support was not withdrawn from poorly performing industries or

entrepreneurs for political reasons. Similarly, banks were under government pressure to

continue to fund poorly performing industries for political reasons. This meant that banks soon

built up very large “non-performing” loans, or loans that were unlikely ever to be repaid. Over

time, banks started to cut back lending to the industrial sector.

A very serious problem in countries like Bangladesh is that it is now very difficult for an

enterprise in the industrial sector to borrow money for long-term investments from the banking

system. This can clearly slow down industrial sector growth. A faster rate of growth in the

industrial sector will require a resolution of the bad debt problem of the banking sector,

together with stronger support from the state in the future to enforce the withdrawal of loans

from badly performing industries. Without the latter, banks will remain unwilling to lend money

for the long-term development of industry in Bangladesh.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

Three major obstacles to industrial development in Bangladesh are: poor law and

order situation; lack of useful support from government; inadequate finance. Which do

you think is the most important obstacle? Select one and try to convince your classmates

why you think so.

What are the implications of hartals for the economy of Bangladesh?

The role of the state, private sector, and multinational corporations (MNCs) and the impact of policies 1960s and 1970s: the state

In the 1960s and 1970s, it was widely believed by international economists that the state had

to play a direct role in industrial development. Development economists and international

agencies encouraged the state to promote public sector enterprises in the industrial sector

and to support the private sector with subsidies and cheap credit from the nationalized

banking system.

This system of state-led growth did produce very rapid growth for a time in most developing

countries, but this growth ran out of steam in most developing countries. It turned out that the

state was not very good in imposing discipline on public sector enterprises or on private

sector capitalists receiving state assistance. In most cases, these enterprises received state

assistance but remained inefficient, and did not succeed in raising their productivity.

Raising productivity and efficiency takes a lot of effort, and managers and owners of

enterprises would only put in this effort if they believed that failure would result in the

withdrawal of state support and the bankruptcy of the enterprise, or at the very least result in

a change of management. However, if they believed that the state could be forced to keep on

supporting the enterprise regardless of performance, there would be no incentive to improve

performance. Unfortunately, in many developing countries, including Bangladesh,

entrepreneurs and public sector managers rightly believed that the state was too weak to

upset vested political interests and withdraw subsidies or support from failing enterprises.

They therefore failed to put in the effort to improve their efficiency and productivity, and in the

end, the strategy of state-led development had to be abandoned.

1980s onwards: liberalisation and privatisation

From the 1980s onwards, the international consensus shifted towards liberalisation and

privatisation, and a reduction in the role of the state in leading industrial development. In

Bangladesh too, there were significant privatisations from the early 1980s as industries in the

public sector were sold or handed back to their previous owners.

There were also reductions in state subsidies to all sectors, including industry, as part of a

general move towards liberalisation and the opening up of markets by reducing the protection

offered to domestic industry. In the past, domestic industry had been protected using tariffs,

quotas and subsidies. Tariffs assist domestic industry by putting taxes on imports that make

them more expensive, and thereby allow domestic producers to sell more of their products.

Quotas are absolute limits on the quantity of particular imported products that can be

imported, and this too obviously helps domestic producers in particular sectors. Subsidies of

the type that we discussed earlier to assist new enterprises and sectors also help domestic

producers to compete in the international market.

Liberalisation led to a reduction in all these forms of assistance to domestic producers (even

though liberalisation did not remove protection entirely) and resulted in many of the

companies that had been set up under the earlier system of state-led development facing

growing difficulties.

The theory was that the removal of this assistance would lead to firms making greater efforts

to raise their efficiency and productivity. In fact, this did not happen, and many of the

privatised industries, for instance in the jute and cotton textile industries, simply closed down.

This is because the productivity and efficiency of many of the privatised industries was too

low to be rapidly raised and there was no strategy about how this productivity could actually

be raised. A challenge for the liberalised economy is to ensure that industries will actually

survive in international competition without any protection. While it is true that the state could

not manage its support properly in the past and this led to inefficiency in many industrial

sectors, it is not necessarily true that simply withdrawing this support will make these

industrial sectors more efficient. A strategy that may have worked better may have been to try

to improve the state’s political ability to selectively and gradually withdraw subsidies from

poorly performing industries. If this could have been achieved, enterprises getting state

support may have tried much harder to improve their productivity without having to shut down

immediately.

This does not mean that the entire large-scale industrial sector performed poorly throughout

this period. A number of successes in large-scale industry should be acknowledged.

Domestic gas production increased rapidly and gas has been successfully substituted for oil

in the production of electricity, and as the primary source of energy in industry. Gas-based

fertiliser production has also increased. Despite these areas of success, privatisation and

liberalisation did not significantly help the large-scale industries that had been set up with

state support in the past.

New smaller industries provide rapid growth

However, in the context of liberalisation a new group of somewhat smaller industries began to

emerge, which did not need state assistance to set up because they were using simpler

technologies than the very large-scale industries in textiles or chemicals that were set up in

the sixties and seventies.

These new industries included in particular the garment sector, which enjoyed a phenomenal

growth in Bangladesh. These industries did not need state assistance and relied on cheap

labour and simple technologies to achieve international competitiveness, and rapidly

expanded their markets. They offered lower wages to workers than some of the older

industries, reflecting the lower productivity of their technology, but they employed many more

workers because they were more labour-intensive compared to the older industries. The

growth of these new smaller scale industries drove the very high growth rates in the industrial

sector that Bangladesh enjoyed in the 1980s and 1990s.

By the end of the 1990s the garment industry employed about 1.5 million workers (most of

them women). Exports of ready-made garments in 2001/02 reached an estimated US$

3,125m., amounting to 52% of total export earnings.

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

The future of the garment industry

Although some domestic fabric and yarn production has commenced in Bangladesh, the

majority of fabric and yarns required by the ready-made garment sector is imported. This

means the net export earnings of the sector are considerably lower. There are obviously great

opportunities for developing domestic fabric and yarn production, but domestic entrepreneurs

lack the skills to go into these areas, and no state support is now forthcoming to help them

move into these areas.

Foreign investments or partnerships may be a solution, but these are staying away because

of the poor investment environment in Bangladesh, lack of infrastructure and political

uncertainty.

A further challenge for the Bangladeshi garment industry is the entry of China as a major

player into the garment industry because of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules that will

force rich countries to remove quotas on Chinese exports of garments to their countries from

2005. Unless the Bangladeshi garment industry can keep improving quality and productivity to

provide cheaper and high quality products, it will start to lose markets to the Chinese.

Foreign and multinational investment

To raise productivity and achieve better quality requires investment, and one possibility is that

this investment will come from foreign countries in the form of foreign direct investment

(FDI) or investment by multinational corporations (MNCs).

The liberalisation and privatisation that reduced the scope of the state to promote

industrialisation increased the potential importance of foreign investment and of multinational

corporations (MNCs) because these have now become the most likely way in which

advanced technologies and new investment will come into developing countries.

Bangladesh has had limited success so far in attracting foreign investment, for the reasons

discussed earlier. In 2002, Bangladesh attracted a total of US$ 47 million in foreign direct

investment (FDI), one of the lowest in the world for a country of Bangladesh’s size. Pakistan,

which suffers from much greater political instability, attracted US$ 823 million in the same

year. In the same year India, whose population is around 10 times that of Bangladesh,

attracted foreign direct investment that was around 70 times greater than Bangladesh at US$

3,030 million. The only area in which Bangladesh has been reasonably successful in

attracting foreign investment has been in the gas exploration sector where Bangladesh is

believed to have large reserves of gas.

Conclusion

Thus, the policy environment that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s did not address the

problem of low efficiency and low productivity in the large-scale industries that had been set

up with state assistance. Nevertheless, largely owing to the newer industries like garments

that emerged in the liberalised economy, industrial output overall increased by a substantial

86% in the decade 1990–2000, ensuring Bangladesh’s emergence as one of the rapidly

growing and globalising economies of the developing world. Its industrial growth rate was

comparable to the industrial growth rates in the very successful Indian economy, even though

much of the industrial growth in Bangladesh was coming from low technology sectors like

ready-made garments, shrimp processing and so on.

The challenge for Bangladesh is how to move up the technology ladder through backward

and forward linkage industries. This will require a combination of policies involving improving

the investment environment, attracting foreign investments, and providing support to new

entrepreneurs while improving the capacity of the state to withdraw support from poorly

performing industries and entrepreneurs.

Comprehension Questions

1. What is meant by ‘liberalisation of the economy’? What are the positive and negative

sides of liberalisation?

2. Why do you think garment industries flourished in Bangladesh? What are the

challenges facing this industry?

3. Write, or say, in your own words why Foreign Direct Investment in Bangladesh is

lower in comparison to other South Asian countries?

Discussion/Reflection Question

‘Natural gas should be used for domestic industrial development rather than exported.’

What is your view about this statement? Support your view with a good argument!

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 7 (b) Types of industries in Bangladesh and their characteristics

Purpose of this section

This section explains:

types of industries: cottage, small-scale and large-scale

characteristics of each type of industry, in terms of employment, output, trade and productivity

growth.

What are the different types of industry?

Although the productivity growth that comes from industrialisation depends on the growth of

high-value-adding modern industries, most of the firms in the industrial sector in Bangladesh

are small-scale or traditional cottage industries. These are often firms in the informal

sector, which means that these firms are too small to come under the regulatory structures of

the state.

Cottage industry refers to family based/owned small-sized production units with small amounts of

capital whose production process is based mostly on local raw materials, inherited artistic skills and

simple indigenous technology.

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

The large-scale industries that do have to register with government agencies are defined as

enterprises that employ 10 persons or more. The small-scale sector includes micro-scale

informal sector firms involved in bamboo working, handloom weaving and metalworking. At

the other end of the scale, the large-scale sector includes jute and textile mills employing

several thousands of workers each, and garments industries that can employ several

hundreds of workers each.

Reflection/Discussion Task

Can you give some more examples of cottage industries, small-scale industries and large-scale

industries?

Cottage industries Small-scale industries Large-scale industries handicrafts metal working jute

How do they differ in characteristics? Productivity: employment and output

The large-scale industries account for only 15% of the total employment in the industrial

sector but they produce 80% of the total value produced in the industrial sector. In contrast,

the small-scale and cottage industries account for 85% of the total employment in the

industrial sector but they only produce 20% of the total value of the output of this sector. This

shows the huge gap in productivity between the large-scale manufacturing sector and the

rest. The large-scale sector is essentially the modern sector that uses imported machinery,

while the small-scale and cottage industry sector uses very little modern machinery, or much

older machinery with local adaptations.

The characteristic of the small-scale and cottage industry sector is that they are much more

labour-intensive than the large-scale sector. This means that any amount of capital invested

in the large-scale sector will generate far less employment than if the same investment had

been made in the small-scale sector. But at the same time, this investment will produce a lot

less value in the small-scale or cottage industry sector than it would if it was invested in the

large-scale sector. Thus, the choice for a developing country is to choose between investing

its scarce capital to employ more people at very low wages in the small-scale sector or

produce more output by employing fewer people at much higher wages in the large-scale

sector.

Wages and output

In the large-scale industrial sector not only are wages higher than in the small-scale sector,

the total output produced is also higher, so that the social output or gross domestic product

(GDP) is higher. Given that poverty is the most important problem in a poor country, it would

appear that the most important priority is to increase the total output of the economy, and to

try to achieve an equitable distribution through redistributive mechanisms like taxation. Trying

to achieve an equitable distribution by supporting the small-scale or cottage industry sector is

only likely to share poverty because although many more people will be employed, they will

all be earning very little and the total output of the economy will be rather low.

Export

The large-scale industry sector is also likely to be able to produce exportable products that

can earn foreign exchange. This too is very desirable in poor countries because foreign

exchange is essential to purchase new technologies and machines that can further raise

productivity in new sectors. While the products of cottage industries can also be exported in

the form of handicrafts, the likely foreign exchange earnings are much smaller because of the

low value products that are typically produced by cottage and handicraft industries.

Productivity growth

Finally, large-scale industries are also likely to enjoy faster productivity growth compared to

small-scale and cottage industries. Productivity is a measure of the output produced by each

worker in that industry, and productivity growth measures the rate of growth of productivity

over time. Productivity grows because of continuous improvements in machinery through new

investments, upgrading of machinery, and through workers and management learning how to

use existing machinery better.

Source: Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

In large-scale industries, the machinery is more sophisticated to begin with, providing greater

scope for improvements in productivity through learning. Moreover, profits in these industries

are higher, allowing greater ongoing investments in machinery, and therefore greater ongoing

improvements in productivity over time.

As a result, the large-scale industries are likely to enjoy higher productivity growth and not just

higher productivity to start with. This is also very important for a growing economy, because to

make a significant dent on poverty over time, productivity growth has to be ensured. If so, this

provides yet another advantage to large-scale industries over small-scale ones. Since wages

in any industry are linked directly to the productivity of workers, large-scale industries can also

be expected to generate higher wages for workers initially, as well as higher rates of growth of

wages over time compared to small-scale and cottage industries. This is indeed what we

observe, and this explains why the small-scale sector employs such large numbers of workers

but adds relatively little value to the economy.

Comprehension Question

Read the text above and make notes in the chart below to show how the industries differ.

Cottage/small-scale industries Large-scale industries Employment Value of output Productivity Wages Machinery used Export Profits Productivity growth Other

Comprehension Question

What is the role of large-scale industries in the economic and social development of a

developing country like Bangladesh?

Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. Argue against or in favour of the following proposition: ‘Small-scale and cottage industries are

not conducive to the reduction of poverty in Bangladesh.’

2. ‘The choice for a developing country is to choose between investing its scarce capital to

employ more people at very low wages in the small-scale sector or produce more output by

employing fewer people at much higher wages in the large-scale sector.’ Which would you choose

for Bangladesh and why?

Argue against or in favour of the following proposition: ‘Economic growth in Bangladesh in the

past decade has been extraordinary.’

Add Comment

Copyright © University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate 2012.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 8 (a) The informal sector and its importance in the Bangladesh economy

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 8 of the ten Environment and Development Topics in the syllabus

for the Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies. The aims of this chapter are to

develop an understanding of the following issues:

the informal sector, its importance in the Bangladesh economy and the challenge of

moving to ‘high-value-added services’ (Topic 8a)

non-governmental organisations as service delivery organisations and their

limitations (Topic 8b)

the importance of the financial sector for enabling investment and mobilising savings

(Topic 8c).

Introduction: What is the service sector?

The tertiary or service sector of an economy includes a wide range of service activities in

developing countries.

It includes very low-value-added activities in the informal sector, such as rickshaw pulling,

barbershops on pavements, domestic service, and street traders. The informal sector

describes all those activities that are not formally regulated by the government because they

do not come under any legal regulatory frameworks. Very low value-added service sector

activities are likely to be unregulated in this way, and these activities therefore belong to the

informal sector.

But the service sector also includes formal sector (regulated) activities that have higher

value added, and which can therefore provide higher wages to those employed in these

activities. These activities include the retail and wholesale trades, formal sector transportation

like the operation of trucks, buses and trains, banking and finance, communication in all its

forms including the media and telecommunications, and the entertainment industry in its

various forms.

Topic 8a: The informal sector and its importance in the Bangladesh economy What is the informal sector?

The informal sector in most developing countries accounts for the biggest share of

employment. In Bangladesh, only 10% of the workforce has regular employment in firms in

the modern sector that fall under government regulation and so only these 10% of the total

number of workers would count as members of the formal sector. This implies that 90% of the

workforce in Bangladesh works in the informal sector. This includes workers in the informal

agricultural, industrial and service sectors, but around half of this total is in the informal

service sector.

The informal service sector includes a vast range of activities, including domestic service as

servants, drivers, or cooks, shining shoes on pavements, providing haircuts on street corners,

selling peanuts or flowers in railway stations or footpaths, and operating cycle rickshaws and

pushcarts.

Why do so many people work in the informal sector?

One reason why unemployment is so low in countries like Bangladesh is that the poor cannot

afford to be unemployed. Since the poor have little savings, they cannot survive for very long

without finding some gainful activity to fall back on. This is where the informal sector comes

in, because it allows the poor to find an avenue of employment, even though the informal

sector provides very low incomes.

The informal sector includes activities in industry, agriculture and services, but the informal

service sector is particularly important because it requires almost no capital to enter this

sector and so it serves as a final resort for all those who fail to find work anywhere else.

In industry, the informal sector includes small workshops like unregulated garages, or very

small factories employing two or three people making, say, metal or wood products. Most of

agriculture is informal in a country like Bangladesh because most farms are very small and

they employ very few workers whose jobs and employment conditions are not regulated by

any regulations. But informal sector activities in both industry and agriculture still require

some capital or land for the owners, and many of the jobs in these sectors are in the form of

self-employment for small producers and their families. Jobs for outsiders in the informal

agricultural and industrial sectors are therefore in very limited supply. In contrast, informal

service sector jobs usually do not require the workers to set themselves up in business, and

so this sector tends to absorb all those who cannot find jobs elsewhere.

Advantages and disadvantages

In one sense, therefore, informal sector service activities represent an escape route for the

poor who would otherwise find it even more difficult to survive. But in another sense, they

represent a wasteful use of human resources that could be more productively employed in

higher wage sectors if only jobs were available in those areas.

The size of informal service sector activities thus might reflect the lack of a development

dynamic in an economy, and its failure to generate high-wage employment in rapidly growing

industrial, agricultural, or high value adding service sectors.

However, many development experts disagree, and argue instead that the informal sector

should not be undervalued in a developing country since it provides vital employment

opportunities and is a source of dynamism in the economy. According to this view,

governments should make it easier for people to enter the informal sector, they should pass

legislation to protect assets and businesses in the informal sector, and there should be

government policies to encourage activity in this sector. They see this as the best way to

reduce poverty and provide employment opportunities.

However, the absence of regulation is the very factor that allows the informal sector to pay

low wages and engage in “grey” activities that might become more difficult if regulated by

government. It is not clear how government can encourage the informal sector and still

ensure that it remains informal. A more important point is that while the informal sector is

indeed dynamic, it is primarily a low wage sector. It plays an important role by absorbing

people who are not finding a job elsewhere. But the important challenge for developing

countries must be to create high wage sectors so that the low wage informal service sector no

longer remains so important.

From informal to formal – the importance and challenge of moving to high-value-added services Why is it important?

The service sector in advanced countries accounts for a large and growing share of total GDP

because of the growth of high-value-added services. But in contrast, developing countries

usually have a large service sector that is composed mostly of low-value-added service

activities. This reflects the fact that many developing countries are not able to provide

employment in industry, in agriculture or in high wage services for most of its population, and

these people have little alternative but to find some income in service sector activities that

provide very little income because they add very little value to the economy.

How to make the move?

The challenge for developing countries is therefore how to move away from low-value-adding

service activities while increasing the scope of high-value-adding activities. This challenge

raises the question about the role of the informal sector in developing countries because

many of the low-value-added jobs in the service sector are in the informal sector.

Who will provide the services?

A further set of issues in most developing countries is how to improve the efficiency of service

delivery by the state. The state is often a critical provider of services in all countries in areas

such as health and education. The question is whether the state is the best and most efficient

provider of these services or whether some other provider would be better.

There are two alternatives. The first is to privatise service delivery to private schools,

hospitals, and charities, and the second is to rely on Non-Governmental Organisations or

NGOs. In developing countries, the second alternative, that of NGO service delivery, is most

often considered as the option. This is because the private sector in developing countries is

often not well developed, and in any case, the private sector would not be able to make a

profit in providing services to the very poor. But the state is equally often criticised for being

inefficient, for suffering from corruption and for not being able to manage service delivery at a

low cost. Increasingly, attention in developing countries has shifted to NGOs as an alternative

method of delivering services. Bangladesh was one of the first countries where the NGO

model was developed, and Bangladesh is therefore often cited as an example of a successful

NGO-led service delivery model. However, the role of NGOs in service delivery is problematic

and there are both costs as well as benefits in relying excessively on NGOs.

What about finance?

Finally, the financial sector is a critical sector in developing countries. Development requires

that adequate finance should be available for growing enterprises and for new enterprises.

However, the financial sector in most developing countries is often inefficient, suffers from

poor regulation by the state and loan repayment is often very poor in the formal sector banks.

Bangladesh led the way with the development of micro-credit by Grameen Bank, which has

become a model for many other countries in the world. However, while Grameen Bank is a

very successful model, it does not address the serious problems faced by industrial borrowers

in Bangladesh who need an efficient banking system that can lend them large amounts of

capital for long-term industrial and commercial development.

Comprehension Questions

1. What is the difference between the informal service sector and the formal service

sector? Can you give some examples of jobs in each?

2. Why do you think most of the workforce in Bangladesh is employed in the informal

sector?

Discussion/Reflection Question

‘The informal service sector should be discouraged.’

Argue against or in favour of this proposition.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 8 (b) Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

Introduction: What is the service sector?

The tertiary or service sector of an economy includes a wide range of service activities in

developing countries.

It includes very low-value-added activities in the informal sector, such as rickshaw pulling,

barbershops on pavements, domestic service, and street traders. The informal sector

describes all those activities that are not formally regulated by the government because they

do not come under any legal regulatory frameworks. Very low value-added service sector

activities are likely to be unregulated in this way, and these activities therefore belong to the

informal sector.

But the service sector also includes formal sector (regulated) activities that have higher

value added, and which can therefore provide higher wages to those employed in these

activities. These activities include the retail and wholesale trades, formal sector transportation

like the operation of trucks, buses and trains, banking and finance, communication in all its

forms including the media and telecommunications, and the entertainment industry in its

various forms.

The purpose of this section

This section explains how NGOs have been involved in Bangladesh as service-delivery

organisations.

What are NGOs?

In Bangladesh, the term ‘NGO’ – non-governmental organisation - refers primarily to those

organisations that are registered under the Foreign Donation (Voluntary Activities) Regulation

Ordinance of 1978. In 1991, 438 organisations were registered under the 1978 ordinance.

The NGO sector is different from the public sector because by definition, it is not government,

but it is also different from the private sector proper because NGOs are run on a non-profit

basis. This means that although NGOs have to pay for their costs, they do not have to

maximise profits by providing the lowest cost service at the highest price. It also means that

although it can pay its employees well, if it makes a profit, this is re-invested in the NGO

rather than being paid to directors or shareholders.

What have NGOs done in Bangladesh?

There were a very limited number of NGOs prior to 1971. But after the independence of

Bangladesh, NGOs emerged on a large scale. The initial focus of these organisations was on

charity and welfare work related to relief and rehabilitation activities. Such activities revolved

around the distribution of food and medicine, construction of houses for the homeless and the

development of physical infrastructure. In the years after Bangladesh became independent,

there was a lot of development and reconstruction work to do, and NGOs began to fill the

gaps that were left after the state had done what it could.

After 1974, they began to develop a new orientation that began to reflect an alternative

development strategy to that of the public and private sector. At that time, the global debates

on the role of the state in economic development were also beginning to change. While earlier

the state was seen as critical for economic development, for providing vital services in health

and education, and for developing policies to encourage industry, this perception began to

change in the late seventies and eighties.

Economists in the western countries and in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund

began to argue that states in developing countries were frequently corrupt and inefficient, and

that it would be better to get NGOs to deliver key services and let the free market dictate the

direction of economic development. In this context, the Bangladeshi NGO sector began to

enjoy new sources of funding and growth in the 1980s and 1990s, and began to take over

important areas of health and education from the government.

As NGOs began to play a bigger role in the economy, they also began to develop new

philosophies and strategies of development. A central element of the “new” development

strategy that many NGOs began to identify with was a concept of development where the

rural and urban poor would take the lead in organizing development through their own

organisations and institutions. This was the “big idea” of the NGO movement and led to their

emphasis on the empowerment of the poor through participatory democracy.

In order to implement this type of strategy and vision the NGOs in Bangladesh have

intervened in a number of key areas:

development of grassroots democratic processes

an emphasis on poverty reduction

extension of women’s rights

education with an emphasis in the primary sector

family planning and delivery of rural primary health care service

micro-credit that gives the poor direct access to credit

environmental protection to improve the sustainability of the livelihoods of the poor.

Underlying much of the activities of most NGOs is the notion of “empowering the poor”. The

idea is that the process of empowerment will ensure that individuals from the “poorest of the

poor” can take direct control of their lives. Once that happens, they will themselves become

the agents of their own development.

Issues

While NGOs have made much progress in taking on many service delivery tasks from

government, there is less agreement about whether they have really made a difference in

empowering the poor to make a difference to their own conditions.

Service delivery

Let us consider these issues in turn. First, on the efficiency of service delivery, there is no

doubt that many NGOs like BRAC (the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee),

Proshika, Nijera Kori, and many others have managed to deliver health or education services

in areas where the state was not delivering.

On the other hand, NGOs have access to funds from foreign donors that enable them to pay

their workers (in most but not all cases) much higher salaries than the state sector. As a

result, it is not surprising that service delivery is better, but it is not clear whether sufficient

foreign funding will ever be available to extend NGO-led service delivery to cover the entire

country. Indeed, NGO funding remains very vulnerable to changing fashions and aid priorities

of donors.

This suggests that the only long-term solution is for the state to be able to raise more money

through domestic taxation. If this is the source of funding, it is very likely that taxpayers will

want to hold the state accountable for the use of this money, and so the only way to ensure

service delivery of key requirements in health and education will be to make the state more

efficient in service delivery in the future. In the meantime, NGOs can continue to serve a

critical function by improving service delivery in some parts of the country.

Empowerment

It is difficult to measure whether the poor have been empowered by NGO activities over the

last three decades and whether this has helped the poor to drive development in new ways.

On the one hand, poverty has been slowly coming down in Bangladesh, due to rising per

capita incomes. But is this because the poor have been empowered, or has economic growth

been driven by the spread of the Green Revolution in agriculture and the creation of new

export sectors in manufacturing?

If the reduction in poverty has been due to economic growth driven by investments in industry

and agriculture, this may have had very little to do with the greater power of the poor, even if

we could agree that NGOs really have made the poor more powerful. These questions are not

easy to resolve, but we need to question the claims made by NGOs about the importance of

empowerment in reducing poverty.

This does not mean that the activities of NGOs in trying to empower the poor have had no

effect at all. It is quite possible that activities that try to organise the poor and engage them in

collective action has very positive effects in ensuring that the benefits of growth are more

equally distributed than would have been the case otherwise. Nevertheless, this is very

different from the claim that the poor are directly generating growth through their own

activities as a result of being empowered by NGOs.

Comprehension Question

When and why did NGOs start to flourish in Bangladesh?

Discussion/Reflection Question

Describe in your own words what you understand by ‘empowerment’

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 8 (c) The role of the financial sector

The purpose of this section

This section explains the importance of the financial sector for enabling investment and

mobilising savings. It covers public sector banks, private sector banks and micro-credit.

What is the financial sector?

At the beginning of this chapter, we said that the financial services were an important part of

the formal service sector. The financial sector plays a critical role in enhancing economic

growth. The financial sector consists of banks, lending institutions, stock markets and other

institutions through which savers and investors can channel funds to borrowers who directly

invest in productive enterprises.

Why is the financial sector important?

An efficient financial sector is important for ensuring that potentially profitable projects are

able to find funds for development at the lowest possible cost. To remain efficient, the

financial sector has to be able to monitor those who borrow funds and make sure that loans

are not wasted in bad investments. If funds that are made available for investment are wasted

and not repaid, other investors will have to pay the price by having to pay higher interest

rates, or funds that for further investments or loans may dry up altogether.

This requires that the financial sector should be able to monitor borrowers/investors on a

continuous basis, thereby ensuring that resources are always directed to the most productive

and efficient borrowers and the less efficient are forced to return funds or pay back their loans

before they default.

How can the financial sector be efficient?

The financial sector can only perform these functions if financial institutions have the backing

of the state to enforce the repayment of loans or the change of management if performance of

the borrowing enterprise is poor. To ensure that the legal framework protecting banks and

stock market investors can be enforced, the state has to have good regulatory structures in

the financial sector so that the state can support financial institutions when they try to monitor

and recover their investments if the performance of the borrower is poor.

This requires good courts and procedures through which money can be recovered from

poorly performing borrowers. But these procedures also have to be fair and transparent so

that borrowers do not feel that an injustice has been done if the bank decides to take action to

recover their investments from a poorly performing borrower or if stock market investors try to

change the management of a poorly performing company.

The weakness of the Bangladeshi financial system has a lot to do with the inability of financial

institutions to enforce the laws protecting their investments because of a weak state capacity

to enforce the implementation of these laws.

Who is the financial sector in Bangladesh?

The financial system of Bangladesh consists of:

The Bangladesh Bank as the central bank, which has the task of regulating the

banking sector and lending to other banks if they need short-term loans

4 nationalized commercial banks (NCB)

5 government owned specialized banks dealing with agriculture and industry

30 domestic private banks

10 foreign banks

28 non-bank financial institutions

The financial system also embraces insurance companies, stock exchanges (including the

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE)) and co-operative banks.

Source: Bangladesh Bank, 2005

Issues Bad debt

In 1993, the four nationalised commercial banks dominated the banking system with 63% of

total deposits (savings) and 53% of total advances (loans). However, the nationalised banks

ran into increasing problems in the 1980s and 1990s because they could not enforce the

repayment of money by bad borrowers. Much of their lending was to enterprises that

subsequently did not perform well, but the banks found that they could not rely on the support

of the state to try and recover their loans.

The “bad debts” of the banking system increased rapidly, and Bangladesh is currently facing

a serious problem where many of the public sector banks have between a quarter and a third

of their loans classified as “non-performing”, which means that the chances of being paid

interest on these loans or getting the money back is very low. The consequence of this has

been that banks have become increasingly wary of lending to industrial enterprises for the

long term and this has serious consequences for new enterprises trying to raise money for

investment.

Increase in commercial banks and focus on consumer credit

Another consequence has been that the public sector banks have shrunk in terms of their

overall business, and the number of commercial banks is rapidly increasing as the private

sector is setting up new banks. The private sector banks are less interested in long-term

lending to industry because they know that they may find it difficult to recover this money

given the weak regulatory structure. Instead, the private sector banks have concentrated on

lending money for consumer credit (to borrowers who want to buy consumer goods or

houses) rather than to industry.

Difficulties for industry

The weakness of the nationalised banks and the different emphasis of the private sector

banks has meant that industrial enterprises have found it hard to raise credit as easily as they

could twenty or thirty years ago, and this is one of the shortcomings in the banking sector in

Bangladesh.

While the Dhaka Stock Exchange has also grown over this period, it has not been a major

source of funding for new enterprises. This is because the stock market is primarily a market

for buying and selling shares in existing firms rather than raising money for new investments.

Thus, the future of industrial development in Bangladesh depends on whether reforms in the

banking sector can be achieved that will enable banks to lend more confidently to

manufacturing and industrial enterprises.

Micro-credit

A significant banking innovation in Bangladesh has been the Grameen Bank. The Grameen

Bank lends relatively small amounts of money to mainly very poor people, particularly women,

and this is why this form of banking is known as micro-credit.

How does it work?

The secret of the Grameen Bank’s success is that it has much higher repayment rates of

loans than the commercial banks or nationalised banks despite lending to the poorest people

in Bangladesh.

It is able to enjoy high repayment rates because instead of lending to an individual, the

Grameen Bank first sets up a group of people who collectively guarantee the loan to each

individual. The condition is that if one person in the group fails to repay a loan, no-one else in

the group will get a loan, so the group has a collective interest in making sure that each

individual repays their loans on time.

The Grameen Bank has scored significant successes in making loans available to very poor

people to set up small business activities like raising chickens or goats, or buying a rickshaw,

which has enabled many poor people to escape from poverty.

Why can’t this successful model be used for bigger businesses?

On the other hand, the Grameen Bank model is difficult to replicate for borrowers of big sums

of money because if a number of very rich people form a group and collectively guarantee the

loans of each individual in the group, it will still be very difficult for the group to ensure that

every individual repays. This is because richer people in Bangladesh and in other countries

are able to escape more easily and it is difficult for their friends to ensure that they will

actually repay. This explains why the Grameen Bank model has not been scaled up to

address the problems of lending to the industrial sector that we discussed earlier.

As a result, the Grameen Bank model is appropriate for dealing with the credit requirements

of relatively poorer people, but the credit needs of the industrial and manufacturing sector will

have to be dealt with through reforms of the conventional banking system.

Comprehension Questions

1. Define ‘financial sector’?

2. Why is it important to regulate the financial sector?

3. What can the state do to ensure a healthy financial sector?

4. Why are new enterprises having difficulties in raising investment money from the

nationalised banking sector?

5. Why are the private sector banks not keen to provide long-term industrial loans?

6. Define ‘micro-credit’.

7. What is the secret of the Grameen Bank success?

8. Why can’t the micro-credit model be used for bigger businesses?

Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. Do you think micro-credit programmes have been able to contribute substantially to

the eradication of nationwide poverty in Bangladesh?

2. ‘NGOs have failed to play a significant role in the national development in the last

three decades.’ Argue in favour or against this proposition.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 9 (a) Population structure

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 9 of the ten Environment & Development Topics in the syllabus for

the Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies. The aims of this section are to

enable students to develop an understanding of different aspects of the demography of

Bangladesh. It will introduce students to:

demographic concepts of birth rate, death rate, dependency ratio, infant mortality,

life expectancy and natural increase, and help them to build up a statistical profile of the

population structure in terms of age/sex, rural/ urban and ethnic/religious (Topic 9a)

the reasons for the changing rates of growth of population, the problems arising from

such growth and possible solutions (Topic 9b)

the reasons for and consequences of population movements in terms of rural-urban

migration and international migration (Topic 9c).

Topic 9a: Population structure Demographic concepts

What is demography?

Demography is the branch of knowledge that deals with human populations, especially the

statistical analysis of births, deaths, migrations, disease etc, in order to illustrate the

conditions of life in communities.

In Chapter 5, you read about trends in birth rates, death rates and population growth. You

will come across these terms, and other demographic terms, in statistics such as those

produced by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics:

Figure 9.1 Bangladesh Population Statistics. Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics

But what do these terms mean?

Opening Activity: Discussion/Reflection Questions

1. Discuss what you think the following terms mean:

birth rate

death rate

infant mortality

life expectancy

natural increase in the population

dependency ratio

fertility rate.

2. Look quickly at Figure 9.1. Between 1983 and 1992, the death rate went down

nationally. Which other things went down, nationally, and which things went up? Was this

good for Bangladesh? Do these figures indicate a better situation in the rural or the urban

areas?

We will now briefly define these key demographic terms and look at them in the context of

Bangladesh, before moving on to consider the statistical profile of Bangladesh’s population.

Birth rate

The birth rate is the average number of births during a year per 1000 people in the

population estimated at mid-year. It is commonly identified as the crude birth rate. It is the

dominant factor in establishing the rate of population growth in a country and is determined by

the level of fertility as well as the age structure of the population.

In Bangladesh, the birth rate was 31.4 per thousand in 1992; it fell to around 25.2 per

thousand in 2002 and is expected to fall to around 18 per thousand in 2020.

Death rate

The death rate is the average number of deaths per 1000 people in the population estimated

at mid-year. It is an approximate reflection of the mortality situation and is referred to as the

crude death rate. It indicates the impact of the existing death rate on population growth given

the age distribution of the population.

In Bangladesh, the death rate was 11.2 per thousand in 1992, it fell to 8.9 per thousand in

2002 and is projected to fall further to around 8 per thousand in 2020.

Infant mortality

Infant mortality is the number of infants dying between birth and the age of one year,

expressed per 1000 live births.

In Bangladesh, the infant mortality rate (per thousand) reduced from 88.0 in 1992 to 64.9 in

2002. It is projected to decline to 40.1 by the year 2025.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the number of years that an average person is expected to live as

determined by the mortality rate.

In Bangladesh, life expectancy at birth was 56.3 years in 1992 and increased significantly to

62 years by 2002. It is currently very close to the life expectancy observed in Pakistan and

India, where the life expectancy in 2002 was 64 and 63 years respectively.

The natural increase in population

The natural increase in population is defined as the rate at which a population cohort is

increasing or decreasing in any given year. It is the difference between the birth rate and

death rate, expressed as a percentage of the base population.

In Bangladesh, the rate of natural increase of the population was 2.02 % in 1992. It fell to 1.63

% in 2002. It is expected to further decline to 1.07% by the year 2020.

The dependency ratio

The dependency ratio is the proportion of the economically dependent part of the population

to the productive part (aged 15 to 64 years). It gives an estimate of the share of dependents

that the economically active population has to support.

The dependency ratio in Bangladesh has fallen from 85.4 in 1992 to 64.9 in 2000. It is

projected to further decline to around 44.6 in 2025. This reflects the growing number of

people in the 15-64 age group as a result of high birth rates in the past. The large numbers

who were born in the 1960s to the 1980s are now becoming economically active and as a

result, the dependency ratio is falling. For the time being, therefore, Bangladesh is in a

fortunate position because the economically active population has a relatively small number

of dependents to support. We can expect more success in raising the savings and investment

ratio ((needs explanation)) in the coming few decades if government policies and institutions

are appropriate.

Total Fertility Rate

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the projected average number of children born to each

woman over the course of her life. It measures the total number of children a woman will bear

in her lifetime on the assumption that the current level of fertility continues. Given average

mortality rates, a TFR of 2.1 roughly indicates that a woman will be replaced by her daughter

once her child-bearing period ends. This is referred to as the replacement level fertility.

Resource Skills Activities

Draw line graphs to show the changes from 1992 onwards in:

a. birth rate

b. death rate

c. infant mortality

d. life expectancy

e. natural increase in population

f. dependency ratio.

A profile of the population structure in Bangladesh

The present population of the country is around 130 million. Even though the annual rate of

growth has fallen from around 3.1 % in 1971 to the current level of 1.6%, it is projected that

stabilisation will not occur until approximately the year 2050 when the population may be as

large as 250 million.

Stabilisation refers to the population size that will remain constant given the birth and death

rates, and the age distribution of the population.

Sex

The share of males and females in the total population is nearly equal, with the males slightly

ahead. In 1990, the total male population was 55.7 million whilst that of females was 52.6

million. This is projected to increase to 91 million males and 88.6 females in 2025. The slightly

higher ratio of males to females may indicate a bias against women’s access to nutrition and

healthcare. If access to nutrition and healthcare was equal, we would expect to see a slightly

higher than equal ratio of women to men in the population given that the average lifespan of

women is higher than that of men in developed countries.

Figure 9.2 Population by Gender Bangladesh 1990-2015 (millions). Figures after 1995 are

World Bank projections). Source: World Bank

Research Task

Build up a profile of the population structure in Bangladesh, by finding out what percentage

are male and female, are in different age groups, are urban and rural, are of particular

ethnic/tribal groups, and of different religions. Fill in the table below.

% of population (e.g. in 2000) Gender: Males Females Age groups: Rural/urban: Rural Urban Ethnic/tribal background: Religion:

Discussion/Reflection Task

1. Discuss the data you have collected. Are you surprised by any of the figures?

2. Do you think there are any issues for society – e.g. a high proportion of the

population in a particular age group?

3. We looked at changes in the rural/urban population in Chapter 5. Can you

remember how it is changing? Do you think the proportion of the population from

different religious backgrounds has changed over the last century?

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 9 (b) Population growth

Purpose of this section

In Chapter 5, we looked at the trend in population growth in Bangladesh. We learnt that over

the past two decades, population control strategies have been a huge success. From an

annual growth rate of around 3.1 % in 1971, the rate of population growth has declined to its

present level of 1.6% and is projected to further fall to 1.06% by 2020. The main factor behind

this has been a dramatic decline in the fertility rate from an average of 7 children per mother

in the 1960s to an average of 2.9 in 2001.

In this section, we will look more closely at some of the issues behind population growth in

Bangladesh – the reasons, the problems and possible solutions.

Reasons Why is the population growing?

Success in reducing population growth should be viewed with some caution. In the mid-

1970s, Bangladesh was the world’s eighth most populous country and remains so today. This

is because:

High fertility rates in the past, coupled with falling death rates, have meant that

Bangladesh still has tremendous inbuilt growth potential given the age structure of its

population.

As much as 43% of its total population was below 15 years of age in 1997, and 46%

of the female population was of reproductive age (15 to 49 years).

Nevertheless, the success of family planning measures has meant that the potential

population explosion has been contained and population growth rates have actually come

down, even though the number of people of childbearing age has gone up dramatically.

Why is the population now growing more slowly?

There are several reasons behind the decline in the population growth rate. We looked at

some of the reasons in Chapter 5. For example:

First, greater education and health awareness, particularly amongst the female

population has increased. This has meant that women are more willing and able to take

advantage of the greater availability of family planning methods.

Secondly, the slow but steady improvement in economic prosperity also has an

impact on the calculations of some parents who can now look forward to educating their

children for a better life rather than relying on a large family for economic security.

Problems caused by growth

Even with the reductions in population growth that have been already achieved, the size of

the population means that even relatively small percentage growth rates translate into large

numbers of new individuals every year.

Education

The immediate effect of this is felt in the educational sector where, in 1995, enrolled students

in primary education were 17.3 million, with an enrolment rate (enrolled students as a

percentage of the total population of the appropriate age) of 92% and a teacher student ratio

of 1:70 (1 teacher for 70 students on average). According to the Bangladesh Planning

Commission, if universal primary education is to be achieved and if the teacher-student ratio

is to be improved even to 1:50, the amount of resources dedicated to primary education

would have to be doubled.

Healthcare

Population growth also has implications for the provision of healthcare. Around the year 2000,

the doctor-population ratio was 1:5506 (1 doctor for 5,506 people in the population), the

hospital bed-population ratio was 1:3231 and the per capita health expenditure (total health

expenditure in the country divided by the population) was 135 Taka per annum. According to

the Bangladesh Planning Commission, to maintain existing healthcare facilities at a minimum

level will require a doubling of per capita health expenditure.

Rural economy

An increase in the population also has a direct impact on the rural economy by raising the

number of landless individuals. In 1997, the population density of Bangladesh was 850

persons per square kilometre. This increased to around 900 persons by 2002. It is projected

to rise to 1130 persons per square kilometre by the year 2020.

As small farms get subdivided amongst many children, many of them become economically

unviable, and the owners have to sell their tiny plots and become landless labourers. They

are forced to go into non-agricultural activities in the rural areas, or work for other farmers, or

to migrate to the cities or abroad.

At the same time, while the yields on the existing farms are going up because of

improvements in technology and the spread of new seeds and fertilizers, there is inevitable

pressure on food availability, as the same amount of agricultural land has to support an ever-

increasing population.

Employment

The growing population that has to find employment opportunities outside agriculture also

creates pressure on the non-agricultural sectors. The working age population (defined by the

Bangladesh Planning Commission as the population between the ages of 15 and 59 years)

was 66.6 million in 1997. It increased to around 80 million in 2002. It is projected to increase

to 98 million in 2010 and 109.1 million in 2020. Much of this increase will have to find jobs

outside the agricultural sector in manufacturing, industry, and services.

Possible solutions

Given the demographic profile of Bangladesh, it is clear that keeping the growth of population

as low as possible is the best strategy for the country at this time. If population growth was to

accelerate again, it is obvious that this would seriously affect the economic and social

development of the country.

There is no set of measures that is likely on its own to lower population growth further or

maintain the existing reduced rates of population growth. Family planning is only likely to work

if the availability of birth control methods is combined with education, employment

opportunities for women, and growing economic prosperity that induces parents to plan

education and investment in children rather than maximizing family size as an economic

survival strategy.

Thus, population control is a multi-pronged strategy that has to depend on economic, social,

and educational changes.

Here, there is an important debate about the role of culture and ideology in people’s attitudes

to family planning. Many people believe that without a change in attitudes, success in family

planning will not be possible. Some observers have even argued that religion can be an

obstacle to family planning, since most important world religions favour large families. But the

experience of Bangladesh shows that attitudes are much more flexible than many analysts

think, and can change rapidly and dramatically if economic opportunities and social

possibilities change.

Of course, this does not mean that attitudes and beliefs are not important. Rather, it warns us

that to focus too much on attitudes and beliefs may be misunderstanding the problem of why

poor families in poor countries have large families. Historical observation across countries

(and the experience of different socio-economic groups within countries) shows us that fertility

behaviour and family size can dramatically change as economic and educational

opportunities change.

Comprehension Questions

1. Draw three star diagrams to summarise the:

reasons for population growth

problems caused by a growth in population

solutions - ways to reduce the birth rate.

Discussion/Reflection Question

Why do you think death rates have decreased in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 9 (c) Population movements

Purpose of this section

In Chapter 5, we looked at trends in migration. In this section, we look more closely at the

reasons for people moving and the consequences.

Before 1971, there were no significant movements of population within Bangladesh and

hardly any migration outside the country (apart from the population transfers that followed the

partition of India in 1947). The population of Dhaka remained fairly static between 1947 and

1971. Since then, the population of Dhaka has grown exponentially and is now considered a

mega city with over 13 million inhabitants. Over the next two decades, its population is

projected to rise to over 20 million people.

Following independence in 1971, international migration also increased. In the 1950s and

1960s, there was some migration (not more than a few tens of thousands) from Sylhet district

to the United Kingdom. In contrast, today an estimated 3 million Bangladeshis are working in

the Middle East and South East Asia. In addition, another million Bangladeshis are estimated

to be permanent residents of other countries.

Rural-urban migration

It is not possible to study the extent of internal migration within Bangladesh from the

information available in the Census data. What is available in Census data is some limited

information about the place of birth of respondents and it is difficult to deduce any movement

patterns from this. To get an idea of the extent of internal migration, we have to rely on micro

level studies of rural-urban migration focusing on particular regions (such as Comilla district)

and studies of the informal sector in Dhaka where a majority of the migrants appear to

converge.

Reasons

The reasons for rural-urban migration identified in these studies can be grouped into:

push factors

pull factors

Push factors primarily refer to issues at the point of origin that propel individuals to move. In

contrast, pull factors are defined as features at the point of destination that attract migrants to

particular places.

Out-migration is generally higher from villages that are characterised by land scarcity, an

unequal distribution of land and a high proportion of landless labour. Most internal migrants in

Bangladesh come from the districts of Faridpur, Barisal, Comilla, Noakhali and Mymensingh.

Since both push and pull factors operate in driving people to look for jobs elsewhere,

migration often does not relate significantly to the skills level of the rural inhabitants who

migrate. Very often, it is the unskilled who have to leave looking for jobs because of push

factors; at other times more skilled people leave because there are pull factors in the form of

better job opportunities elsewhere. Thus, overall we can find migrants of all skill levels who

migrate.

The main pull factors relate to:

more diversified livelihood opportunities

higher probability of finding work, higher wages

the existence of a network of friends and relatives in the target destination

greater educational possibilities

the greater availability of informal sector activities.

It is estimated that as much as 40% of the recent urban growth in Bangladesh is due to this

internal flow of people.

The emergence of garment industries has introduced the new phenomenon of female

migration. Barring severe food crises or natural calamities, the move to urban areas has

initially been very largely male dominated, with female members of the household following

later. In contrast, the new garment factories that have been set up in urban areas in

Bangladesh in large numbers since the 1980s have attracted primarily female migrants.

Consequences

The logic of rural-urban migration, driven by the search for employment, higher earnings or

better education, is understandable. However, it has had some negative consequences:

The pace of urban population growth has put a severe strain on urban resources.

It is estimated that 30% of the slums of Dhaka are populated by migrants. The

accompanying environmental degradation and the pressure on infrastructure, such as

water, sewerage and sanitation systems, is obvious.

There are also fears that large-scale migration can lead to criminality if jobs are not

available for the new migrants.

On the other hand, migration has led to a great deal of economic vitality and allowed the

growth of new manufacturing industries and service sectors. The recent high rates of growth

of the Bangladesh economy have been driven by the many sectors that have drawn on

hardworking rural migrants.

Historically, the growth of manufacturing and the transition from agricultural to industrial

societies has always been associated with periods of large-scale migration, the growth of

cities and, for a time, the growth of slums. Only later have slums been transformed into

residential areas for a growing urban working population.

It is not desirable to try to reverse this historical pattern in contemporary Bangladesh, but the

pace of migration has to be matched by investments in urban infrastructure, sanitation and

housing.

International migration

More recently, international migration has become more important than internal rural-urban

migration within Bangladesh. Some micro-studies have shown that in the mid-1980s, 37% of

rural migrants were going outside the country to the Middle East and to South East Asia,

while around 32% were migrating to Dhaka. The process of Bangladeshis migrating to the UK

and other western countries has also been superseded by people moving to the Middle East

in the 1970s and 1980s and to South East Asia in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Reasons

The growth in international migration has been driven by:

unemployment and underemployment at home, including the difficulties of finding

jobs or better job opportunities in the urban areas

higher incomes offered by the international labour market, even for unskilled jobs

a pro-active governmental attempt to enhance migration to the Middle East and other

areas to bring in much needed foreign exchange. The reasons underlying this have been

both economic and political. International migration is seen as an important mechanism

for reducing employment pressures at home as well for earning foreign exchange and

thereby enhancing investment.

Consequences

The skill distribution of Bangladeshis migrating to the Middle East from Bangladesh in the late

1970s and early 1980s is shown in Figure 9.3. Four skill categories are identified:

professionals and semi-professionals, skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled.

Professionals and semi-professionals include doctors, engineers, university/ college

teachers, accountants, computer experts.

Skilled and semi-skilled include workers such as masons, carpenters, fitters, and

mechanics.

Unskilled consists of construction workers, cleaners, helpers to masons and

municipal workers.

Figure 9.3 Skill Distribution of Bangladeshis Migrating to the Middle East.

Source: Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.

It is clear from Table 9.3 that the majority of international migrants going from Bangladesh to

the Middle East were unskilled workers. In contrast, the number of professionals and semi-

professionals was less than 10%. As a consequence:

the foreign exchange earned by Bangladesh has been rather limited because most

Bangladeshi migrants were working in sectors where they earned relatively little

workers in categories that were least likely to find jobs within Bangladesh have

succeeded in going abroad and contributing to the well-being of their families

the number of professionals and skilled workers within Bangladesh is limited because

of relatively poor educational infrastructure and low levels of literacy compared to

neighbouring countries. This has meant that even with the relatively small numbers of

skilled and professional migrants leaving the country, the impact on the Bangladesh

economy from losing these skills has been significant.

The migration patterns from Bangladesh point not only to the need to accelerate domestic

employment creation and the growth of non-agricultural employment, but also to the

shortages of skilled workers and professionals in Bangladesh. The pattern of migration is

therefore consistent with the evidence of low educational standards in Bangladesh, and points

to the pressing need for improving skill creation and strengthening higher education in

particular.

By 2002, twenty years from the period shown in Table 9.3, the extent of international

migration from Bangladesh has increased fourfold. Over 3 million Bangladeshis are currently

estimated to be working overseas. As with rural-urban migrants, the overwhelming majority of

international migrants are male. The economic benefits of international migration, both for the

families of the migrants and for the Bangladesh economy, are demonstrated by the growth in

annual remittance flows of around 10% per year over the past 25 years.

Comprehension Questions

Explain why some Bangladeshis migrate overseas and describe the benefits and

problems such a movement creates.

List the main causes of rural migration and describe the effects this movement has

on urban areas.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 10 (a) Health care delivery systems

Purpose of this chapter

This chapter covers Topic 10 of the ten Environment & Development Topics in the syllabus

for the Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level Bangladesh Studies. The aims of this section are to

develop an understanding of the following issues:

health care delivery systems in Bangladesh, as well as disease control and ways of

improving the quality of life (Topic 10a)

the provision and delivery of primary, secondary and tertiary education, as well as

different educational challenges, such as improving literacy, developing occupational

skills and professional skills (Topic 10b).

Topic 10a: Health care delivery systems

The constitution of Bangladesh clearly stipulates securing for its citizens “….the provision of

the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care.”

All governments have recognised the importance of improving health care provision in

Bangladesh and have pledged to ensure that there is universal access to essential health of

an adequate quality for all its citizens. Health care in a developing country raises a number of

important issues and debates:

First, access to health care is a fundamental right in itself, as the constitution of

Bangladesh recognises. Therefore, as an end in itself, the government has to ensure that

the quality of health care improves over time.

Secondly, the health of a society’s citizens is critical for the performance of the

economy and the capacity of the economy to compete internationally. Therefore, health

care is also a means for achieving the broader development goals of the country.

The debates and policy discussions are about determining the priorities for allocating health

care, given that in a relatively poor economy the resources available for health care are

necessarily going to be limited. It then becomes important to determine where to spend these

resources and how to spend these resources most effectively to achieve the joint goals of

universal health cover as a constitutional right, and the goal of improving health to move

ahead in terms of economic development.

Who delivers heath care?

The health care delivery system in Bangladesh can be broadly divided into the public sector

and private sector, and each has a number of tiers of delivery. This structure has been

developing and changing over time, and recently, the role of the private sector has increased

with the rapid growth of private clinics and hospitals. This has increased the quality of health

delivery overall, but has also meant that access to health has not improved rapidly for the

poorest people who do not have the means to access a private health sector.

In 2002, the total spending on health in Bangladesh was 3.1% of Bangladesh’s total GDP

(gross domestic product). But public health spending was only 0.8% of GDP, the remaining

2.3% of GDP being accounted for by private health care provision. Thus, public sector health

spending was only about 25% of total spending on health. In addition, the total spent on

health is small because Bangladesh’s per capita GDP is not very high. In per capita terms, in

2002, Bangladesh spent only US$11 per head on health, which means that each individual in

Bangladesh on average only had $11 to cover all their health needs.

The low level of health spending and the growing share of the private sector raise important

questions about whether the emerging health sector in a country like Bangladesh can address

the constitutional right of all its citizens to access health care. We can also ask whether these

developments are appropriate for ensuring a healthy workforce that can contribute to the

rapid development of the economy. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the public sector

was not well funded, that the quality of health care delivery was often poor. Therefore, the

growth of private hospitals and clinics has at least improved health care for those who can

pay for these services.

Parallel to the development of the private sector clinics, there has also been a growth of

NGOs (non-governmental organisations) providing health care to the poor. NGOs are

classified as part of the private sector, but they are funded by international donors and local

charities, and therefore have characteristics of the public sector. But their coverage is still

limited and their future depends on the continued availability of funding from these sources,

primarily international donors.

Finally, we have to note that the public sector health care system in Bangladesh has had

some notable successes, particularly in expanding immunisation and fighting diarrhoeal

diseases and epidemic control, and in family planning. These areas are not suited for private

sector development at all, and here Bangladesh can be proud of a relatively good public

sector performance on which it has to build on in the future.

Comprehension Question

What are the health care delivery systems in Bangladesh?

What are the failures and successes of the public sector health care system in

Bangladesh?

The public sector: upazila health complex and district hospitals

The public health sector in Bangladesh is based on a number of tiers of health care delivery.

The lowest administrative tier in Bangladesh is the union, which consists of around

approximately 20 villages. The only health care available at the union level in Bangladesh

consists of a number of Health and Family Welfare Centres for the provision of outpatient

services. In 2000, out of 4,484 unions in Bangladesh, 4,062 were covered by centres. Of

these 4,062 centres, 2,700 were primarily concerned with the delivery of family planning

services, and 1,362 were primarily rural dispensaries.

The focus of the government’s health care delivery plan has been on the next administrative

tier above the union. This is the upazila, which consists on average of 20 unions. The

government’s policy has been to implement a nationwide health programme based on the

provision of primary health care (PHC) services at the upazila level. Successive

governments have committed themselves to establishing health complexes in every upazila.

The aim of the Upazila Health Complex is to ensure that primary health care services are

accessible for the entire rural population. But out of the 507 upazilas in Bangladesh, by 2000

only 374 had a completed health complex. Each of these complexes is intended to provide

specialised facilities for medicine, surgery, gaenecology, anaesthesia, and dentistry. In

addition, they are supposed to have an adequate supply of essential drugs and vaccines.

For the vast majority of Bangladesh’s population an Upazila Health Complex is their first point

of contact with formal public sector primary health care. But with a very low level of public

spending on health, the quality of services available in the Upazila Health Complexes is not

very high.

The next tier of public sector health care is located at the zila or district level where each of

Bangladesh’s 64 zilas can now provide modern hospitals with a bed capacity ranging from 50

to 200 patients. There is a government programme to increase the bed capacity in many of

these hospitals to 250 beds. It is estimated that by 2000, there were 34,786 hospital beds in

district hospitals, giving a bed–population ratio of approximately 1:3,450. The zila hospitals

are better equipped than the upazila health complexes, and cases that are more serious are

referred to this level.

In contrast to the primary health care system available in rural areas, there is very limited

availability of public sector primary health care in the urban areas to service the urban poor.

But urban areas also have big public hospitals where serious cases from rural areas are

referred in addition to serious cases from urban areas.

The provision of primary health care in the urban areas is a gap that needs to be addressed,

and the solution lies either in a partnership-based approach with NGO’s and the private sector

or in the development of an urban network of public sector primary health care provision.

The big public hospitals in the cities, and particularly in the capital Dhaka, are the apex of the

public health system and serve as teaching hospitals where the next generation of doctors

are trained. Although the quality of equipment is often very poor, as is the supply of

medicines, many of the best doctors in Bangladesh are still to be found in the big public

teaching hospitals.

Comprehension Questions

1. Describe in your own words how the public sector health care system is

administered to cover the entire country.

2. What are the limitations of the public sector health care system in the rural and

urban areas?

Involvement of NGOs in health service delivery

The role of the private sector in Bangladesh includes both the private health clinics and

hospitals but also the NGOs who provide different types of health services, mostly to the poor.

The NGOs are not part of the state sector, but they are typically not operated on a profit

basis, and are not likely to charge market prices for the health services they provide. They are

financed by charities, usually international charities, and this sometimes means they can pay

their staff more than the public sector, and have access to medicines and other requirements

for delivering health services.

The NGO sector has grown in Bangladesh because of the limitations that the government has

in raising taxes and making money available to the public sector. The lack of resources in the

public sector has meant that the access to health services for poor people has not been

satisfactory in the past, and this has justified the entry of NGOs into the health sector.

Many international donors also prefer to provide money to NGOs rather than to the

government because they believe that NGOs are more likely to deliver services to the poor

than the public sector where there have been greater problems of corruption, inefficiency, and

absence of good management. However, the diversion of funds out of the public sector has

further worsened the quality of personnel in the public sector as the NGO sector has become

more attractive for many health service personnel. The problem is that in the long run, the

NGOs cannot cover the whole country nor can health care provision depend on the charity of

international donors.

Unless Bangladesh can develop its own public sector health system based on taxes it can

collect within Bangladesh, the provision of health care across the country will remain patchy

and vulnerable to the changing funding decisions of international donors and charities.

It is estimated that there are around 130 NGOs operating in the health sector in Bangladesh.

The NGOs in the health sector are involved mostly in delivering primary health care. In 1995,

these NGOs collectively reached 25,298 villages and nearly 13.13 million beneficiaries. Given

Bangladesh’s total population of around 120 million in 1995, the coverage of the NGOs

remains relatively limited despite the attention they get in international circles.

The work of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) highlights the nature of

the interventions made by the NGOs. They started their interventions in health care in 1979,

in collaboration with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh

(ICDDR,B), to provide oral rehydration solutions (ORS) to prevent deaths from diarrhoea. The

idea was to teach households to treat diarrhoea with oral rehydration solutions that could

easily be made up at home. These programmes were very successful in reducing mortality

and became internationally recognised as successful innovations in health care in developing

countries.

BRAC subsequently got involved in government supported immunisation programmes as part

of their own Child Survival Programme (CSP). These immunisation programmes reached

over 30 million individuals by 1990.

An offshoot of CSP has been a primary health care programme (PHCP), which is dedicated to

health and nutrition education in the field of training of traditional birth attendants, teaching

them the importance of sanitation, clean water, and family planning. From the mid-nineties

onwards, BRAC has integrated their health programme with their overall rural development

and education programmes. Within their Women’s Health and Development Programme

(WHDP) they have trained girls (aged 11-16) as health cadres to improve health and nutrition.

WHDP has also intervened in maternal and ante –natal care and set up training facilities for

the government’s rural health administrators in health management.

Thus, well-funded and managed NGOs like BRAC and many others have played a positive

role in improving the delivery of primary health care to the poor, but the overall health

statistics in Bangladesh are still not satisfactory. The NGOs are too small to cover the entire

country, and even well-funded ones like BRAC remain dependent on international funding.

Nevertheless, the NGOs have probably contributed to the significant advances that

Bangladesh has made in reducing child mortality to below the South Asian average. In 2003,

the infant mortality rate in Bangladesh was 48 per 1000 live births, compared to a South

Asian average of 68, and a low-income country average of 82.

Comprehension Question

1. Define NGOs.

2. Briefly describe the role of the NGOs in the delivery of primary health care.

Research Task

Try to learn more about the working of the ICDDR,B.

Role of the private sector in health

It is estimated that the private sector accounts for 75% of the total spending on health in

Bangladesh. In recent years, there has been active encouragement by the state to promote

private sector investment in health facilities. The government has provided direct financial

support to a number of such institutions including the Heart Research Institute, the Institute of

Clinical Health, and the Bangladesh Institute for Research in Diabetes, Endocrine, and

Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM).

The number of private hospitals and clinics, primarily in Dhaka and Chittagong, has been

steadily increasing, particularly since the 1990s, to meet the demand for health services from

people who are able to pay a market price for better health care, given the limited services

provided by the public system. The private facilities target a rich client base and are often

specialised in particular areas such as cardio vascular diseases.

The private sector has also established a large number of small clinics and laboratories for

testing and analysis. The standards in these clinics vary widely but they are usually run on

commercial lines with no public quality assurance or control.

The private provision of health services tends to target the middle class and the rich who can

afford to pay relatively high prices. They cannot be seen as a solution to basic health

provision to the majority of the citizens. However, they can cater to specific client groups,

devote time and skills to specific diseases; and over time raise the standard and quality of

research. There are already links with the public sector in that many doctors and staff in the

private sector also work in the public sector. This can lead to personnel not being available in

the public sector when they are needed, but it can also allow doctors to remain in the public

sector where they may not have been prepared to continue working in the public sector

without augmenting their salaries in the private clinics.

Comprehension Question

What are the positive and negative aspects of the private sector health services?

Disease control and ways of improving quality of life

An important aspect of health care in developing countries is control of easily preventable

diseases that would not be widely seen in advanced countries. This is because in poor

countries the health of the population is adversely affected by other factors such as poor

nutrition, poor sanitation, poor hygiene, as well as health care failings such as poor

immunisation and treatment.

Thus, while improvements in immunisation and treatment are critical, in other areas health

care has to deal with problems that are not directly due to the health care systems but are

due to other factors such as poor quality water and sanitation.

In these cases, the health care system has to respond by tackling with problems such as

diarrhoea and malaria, which will remain recurrent because of these other factors.

The quality of life improvements in developing countries thus depends on the health care

system contributing to both disease control and related factors such as nutrition, water quality,

and hygiene.

Control of diarrhoeal diseases (CDD)

Diarrhoeal diseases are a key factor in the mortality (deaths) and morbidity (diseases) of

children. Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) has been adopted as the main way of responding to

the problem to reduce the number of deaths and the government has adopted a strategy that

includes the following elements:

epidemiological surveillance to keep track of outbreaks of these diseases;

formation of emergency medical teams in times of floods, cyclones and epidemics;

setting up temporary mobile hospitals to deal with epidemics;

targeted health education initiatives to teach people about oral rehydration, hygiene

and sanitation.

These programmes have been successful because although there has not been a significant

decline in morbidity due to diarrhoea, mortality has gone down markedly. The fact that

morbidity has not improved is not surprising given that diarrhoea is caused by factors outside

the control of the health care system, but the health care system has responded successfully

by devising treatments that have significantly reduced the number of deaths.

Malaria control programme (MCP)

Malaria is a major problem in countries like Bangladesh where large open water bodies are

available for the breeding of mosquitoes. From the 1990s onwards, the number of malaria

cases being detected in Bangladesh has rapidly increased, partly due to better detection

systems. The problem has also worsened because mosquitoes have become resistant to

many conventional pesticides and the malaria parasite has become resistant to traditional

medicines like quinine. The government’s strategy in addressing malaria has included the

following activities:

Intensive and regular insecticide spraying in high risk areas;

Continuous monitoring of the resistance to drugs: This information is valuable for the

international research on malaria drugs.

The long-term solution to malaria cannot however be found in these responses. Unless

infrastructural improvements reduce the prevalence of stagnant water in which mosquitoes

can breed, the health system is again controlling a health problem, not solving it.

Expanded immunisation programme (EIP)

Many diseases can only be controlled by early immunisation. Immunisation also has to cover

most of the population in order to be successful. The government of Bangladesh, together

with many NGOs have put a great deal of effort into immunisation programmes, which have

steadily increased their coverage. A countrywide programme of immunisation has been in

operation from 1976. By 1990, 65% of children were within the programme. By 1994, nearly

70% of 1-year old children had been immunised for polio and DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and

tetanus), and 74% had been immunised for measles. The government target is to attain a

uniform high level of immunisation (90%), eliminate tetanus, and achieve a 95% reduction in

measles mortality and a 90% reduction in measles morbidity.

Nutrition

Poor nutrition is indirectly a major cause of poor health, and a direct factor affecting poor

quality of life. Anaemia, vitamin deficiency blindness, and protein energy malnutrition in

Bangladesh have been caused by poor nutrition amongst vulnerable sections of the

population, in particular low-income groups, young children, and women.

To overcome this massive problem, the government has recognised the importance of

nutrition in its National Plan of Action for Nutrition adopted in 1997, which set a target to raise

the per capita calorie intake to 2300 kilocalories per person by 2002. This is the

recommended calorie intake for an average person, but this target is difficult to achieve in a

poor economy where many people are living below the poverty line.

Comprehension Questions

1. Define ‘oral rehydration therapy’ (ORT).

2. Define ‘extended immunisation programme’ (EIP).

3. What is the recommended calorie intake for an average person?

Discussion/Reflection Questions

‘Unless infrastructural improvements reduce the prevalence of stagnant water in which

mosquitoes can breed, the health system is controlling a health problem (malaria), not solving

it.’

Do you agree with this statement? Argue in favour of your view.

Bangladesh Studies O Level (7094) Pilot Textbook Topic 10 (b) Provision and delivery of education in Bangladesh

Purpose of this section

This section covers the provision and delivery of education in the primary, secondary and

tertiary sectors. Within these sectors, it looks at the public sector versus the private sector,

and the role of NGOs and government in improving literacy. Some of the educational

challenges are introduced, such as developing occupational and professional skills.

Introduction

The education system in Bangladesh is divided into three sectors:

The primary education sector covers education from the age of 6 for five years.

Secondary education covers the next stage, from the age of 11 for a further seven

years.

Tertiary education is the highest stage, covering subsequent education in

universities and other institutes of higher learning.

Public spending and enrolments

Total public spending on education in Bangladesh was around 2.5% of GDP in 2002,

compared with a low-income country average of 3.1% in the same year. The enrolment ratio,

which shows the percentage of the relevant age group that is actually enrolled in an

educational establishment shows that in 2002, the primary sector had an 85% enrolment

ratio, the secondary sector had 45% enrolment ratio, and the tertiary sector had a 6%

enrolment ratio.

Growing private sector

There is a growing private sector in education in Bangladesh, and most schools in the non-

government sector get a large subsidy from government, which can be up to 80% of teachers’

salaries. In the cities, there are also a growing number of entirely private schools, some of

which charge high fees, and a growing number of private universities.

Challenges

The relevant questions for the education sector are whether the level of spending on

education is appropriate for meeting the country’s educational needs, defined both in

terms of providing education as a civic right of citizens, as well as meeting the needs of

employers and the self-employed who need skills to survive in an increasingly competitive

world.

Bangladesh lags behind its competitors in education. In 2002, the adult literacy rate

in Bangladesh (of those aged 15 or more) was 41.1%, compared to a South Asian

average of 59.3% and a low-income country average of 63.9%.

At the higher end of education, Bangladesh is even less competitive with

neighbouring India, which is able to exploit its higher education graduates to enter global

software markets and provide outsourcing services to international companies. If

Bangladesh is to compete in these markets, not only does it have to improve average

literacy, it has to improve the quality of its higher education in the tertiary sector to a

significant extent.

Primary education

Reviews of Bangladesh’s performance in its primary education sector have indicated that

substantial progress has been made in increasing enrolment over the last twenty years.

Increasingly, the proportion of children from poor backgrounds and illiterate households are

attending schools.

Public and private sectors

Attendance has been helped by the growth of a wide variety of non-government schools

(which are nevertheless very often receiving government subsidies) that serve the special

needs of children from poorer backgrounds. In particular, some of these schools allow

children who have to work for a living to attend after work.

In the year 2000, there were 78,600 primary schools in Bangladesh, half of them run and

managed privately but with many of the private schools receiving government subsidies.

NGOs have been successful in the promotion of education in poor villages without schools

and have facilitated the entry of working children into primary education through flexibly timed

non-formal programmes.

The Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) has overall responsibility for the management

and supervision of formal primary education. It maintains around 38,000 government primary

schools, supports 9,700 non-governmental ones, and employs 161,000 teachers. The support

to the non-governmental schools finances 80% of teacher salaries in these schools. There

are also many other non-governmental schools that are entirely privately funded through high

fees, and these do not get government support.

Improvements in enrolments

The importance of primary education has led to a government drive to increase enrolments in

the 1990s. During the period 1992 –1997 the number of primary schools increased by more

than half and enrolments were increased by 41%.

There have been added efforts to ensure the greater participation of girls through community

mobilisation schemes, employing greater number of female teachers and locating schools

within easy reach of their homes. The enrolment of girls has now achieved parity with boys.

In addition, about 70% of eligible children from poor families are in primary education. Around

70% of the mothers and 50% of the parents of children currently enrolled in school are

illiterate, showing that Bangladesh is on its way to significantly reducing illiteracy in the next

generation.

Role of NGOs

NGOs are also active in the delivery of primary education in the country and they target the

economically most disadvantaged children. They teach more than 2 million students and use

their own innovative curriculum and teaching methods. The largest NGO running primary

education is BRAC who have enrolled 1.3 million children and are mainly located in one-room

schools in poor rural communities. However, given that the total number of primary school

students in Bangladesh is close to 20 million, NGOs are still reaching only about 10 per cent

of students. This means that the quality of the public sector and the state supported schools is

critical for ensuring that primary education of a high quality can be delivered to the nation.

Secondary education

The secondary education system in Bangladesh covers the next 7 years of education in

secondary schools, colleges, and degree colleges. As with primary education, the

administration of secondary education is highly centralised. The Directorate of Secondary and

Higher Education (DSHE) is in charge of 13,800 secondary schools, 900 intermediate

colleges and intermediate sections in about 800 degree colleges.

Enrolments

The enrolment ratio of 44% in 2002 was about half the enrolment ratio of the primary sector,

showing a sharp drop in education take up rates. This is in line with other low-income

countries where many young people have an economic necessity to take up jobs as soon as

they leave primary school to support themselves and their families. However, the quality of

the secondary education sector is critical in training the next generation of students who will

go into more demanding jobs in management, or into tertiary education to provide highly

skilled specialisations for the economy.

What happens to school-leavers?

A survey conducted in 1993 on the destination of secondary students completing secondary

education found that 70% entered tertiary education and 30% entered the labour market.

Those entering the labour market were equally divided between wage employment, self-

employment, and unemployment. The question here is whether the skills and learning

imparted in this sector are the most appropriate for the jobs that secondary school leavers are

likely to find in Bangladesh.

Challenges

The increasing globalisation of the economy means that school leavers who want to find jobs

in public or private sector management need skills to operate in a global economy. These

skills include a high degree of competence in English and mathematics, as well as knowledge

of the global economy. At the secondary level in Bangladesh, students have to make a choice

between science, humanities, and commerce. In 1997, 21% opted for science, 50% in

humanities, and 29% in commerce. This reflects the fact that most school leavers in

Bangladesh seek jobs at the management level in the public or private sectors. But unless the

secondary school education system in Bangladesh is training students for participation in the

global economy, and for contributing to the development of the Bangladesh economy,

education will not be playing its full role.

Tertiary education

The tertiary education system includes the universities and degree colleges affiliated with

universities.

Enrolments

In a developing country, tertiary education is a privilege for relatively few students. This is

reflected in the very low enrolment rate of around 6% in Bangladesh. However, the

Bangladeshi enrolment rate in tertiary education is lower than the South Asian average of

around 10% and the low-income country average is also 10%.

Growing private sector

In 1998, Bangladesh had 11 public universities and 16 private ones; both figures have

steadily increased, but particularly for private universities. The private universities are based

mostly in Dhaka and Chittagong. They charge high fees and are therefore not accessible to

poor students. The University Grants Commission is in charge of allocating finance for the

public universities and approves the setting up of private universities.

Challenges

The growth of private universities in Bangladesh reflects a growing demand within the country

for quality university education that the public sector cannot provide. The public universities

face problems with completing sessions on time due to stoppages that are caused by political

mobilisations by small numbers of students.

The disruptions faced by public universities are unfortunate because it means that students

from poorer backgrounds are forced to suffer a poorer educational experience. On the other

hand, private universities do not have the capital to invest in science teaching which requires

laboratories or access to teaching hospitals, and instead the private universities concentrate

on humanities and business. This skews the specialisation in the university system away from

sciences towards humanities, social sciences, and business management.

One of the limitations of the tertiary sector in Bangladesh is that it is not closely connected to

the needs of business or industry. In 1990, only 39% of enrolments were in science subjects

like agriculture, engineering, and architecture. This reflects the problem that most of these

subjects are taught in public universities for the most part, and yet they are critical for the

economic success of a country like Bangladesh.

Most universities in Bangladesh also do very little research, and this too is a function of

universities in most countries. Funding for research can be increased in the future if

universities reach out to try and identify research needs in the private sector and in industry

and try to raise money from the private sector to carry out this research. This type of

collaboration with the private sector is most likely in science areas like engineering, product

design or architecture.

The experience of neighbouring India shows that economic success depends critically on the

involvement of the tertiary sector in providing skilled and highly specialised manpower for

specific sectors, together with research that can add to the competitiveness of the economy.

Skills development and technical training

There is a parallel system of education that critically addresses the absence of specific skills.

In Bangladesh, this area of training is referred to as Technical Vocational Education and

Training (TVET). This education is not about literacy but about occupational skills and can be

accessed by students at secondary and tertiary levels of the educational structure. It includes

formal institutional education as well as non-formal and informal education.

The existing TVET system in Bangladesh is very small, taking up only 2% of the education

budget, and enrolling around 30,000 students at the certificate and diploma levels. In addition,

there is training available for non-formal areas such as livestock, pisciculture, and poultry

farming.

Around 30 NGOs provide occupational skills training to around 2,000 students. In addition,

160 non-profit vocational schools deliver courses on tailoring/sewing, embroidery, electrical,

carpentry, radio, and television repairs, refrigeration and so on. It is estimated that around 200

private trade schools provide non-formal training connected to the export of semi-skilled

manpower.

Challenges

Clearly, vocational training is very under-developed in Bangladesh, and few opportunities

exist given the size of the population and the scale of needs.

A major problem in Bangladesh as in many other countries is that vocational training is seen

as less prestigious and therefore does not attract the best students, even though it is the type

of education that is most likely to make an immediate difference to a person’s earning

capacity. Greater efforts in financing higher quality skills training and linking these to

economic opportunities in the domestic and international market is likely to make the

educational system in Bangladesh more relevant for enhancing the likelihoods of students.

Comprehension Questions

1. What is the enrolment rate in primary, secondary and higher education in

Bangladesh?

2. Why is there a sharp decrease in the enrolment of students at secondary level

compared to primary level?

3. In your own words, what are the problems facing the public universities in

Bangladesh?

4. Why is tertiary sector education important for the overall economic development of a

country?

5. What is the ‘global software market’?

6. What is ‘adult literacy’?

7. What are the responsibilities of the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) and the

Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE)?

8. What is ‘tertiary education’?

9. What is ‘Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET)’?

Discussion/Reflection Questions

Scan through the above text, and make a list of the challenges facing a) secondary

education, b) tertiary education and c) TVET (technical vocational education and

training).

Is vocational education more important than general tertiary education? Get into

pairs or two groups. Choose either TVET (technical vocational education and training) or

tertiary education (universities and degree colleges). Imagine that you have to make a

speech in parliament to convince the government to spend more on your chosen sector.

Try to convince the teacher or the rest of the class why your educational sector is the

most important!