
The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna estuary forms the central and most dynamic part of the coastal zone of Bangladesh. It is being shaped by a complex pattern of interactions between phenomena as the discharge of water, the sediment load, tidal forces and estuarine circulation. This leads to a permanent process of formation and erosion of land and, indeed, to moving coastlines. It is a unique environment, not seen at this scale in any other part of the world. The book follows three interwoven themes.
Development Issues of Bangladesh-III has been written with the theme: human development and quality of life in Bangladesh.
This book makes an innovative attempt to generate greater understanding about the rapid growth of Dhaka City, the deeply entrenched class hierarchy and offers a socio-economic analysis of the slum and non-slum households. It is an important departure from the existing literature in a number of ways. First, it used the latest and recognized sources of secondary materials and population estimates and projections. Second, it makes a thorough and broad-spectrum review of theories on determinants and consequences of migration.
Groundwater has been the main source of water for drinking and irrigation. It is also the source of arsenic poisoning that affects millions of people in Bangladesh. Despite its importance, very little information is available in the public domain on this enigmatic resource. On the other hand, vast amounts of information exist in unpublished project reports and the like. For the first time, this book brings together the key elements of this work as well as presenting an up to date perspective on the problems and prospects for the future use of groundwater in Bangladesh.
The social science and humanities have largely neglected Bangladesh. Researchers in Bangladesh are handicapped by poor government funding and a lack of incentives for doing sustained serious research. External finding has come from development circles which need appraisal and evaluation studies of many kinds.
The movement for Bangladesh was carried forward in the name of creating Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal). Implicit in the idea of Sonar Bangla was the vision of the society economically prosperous, free of exploitation, democratically governed. tolerant of pluralism and respectful of people’s rights. Several of Bangladesh’s leading social scientists, as well as American and European scholars come together in this volume to provide a carefully balanced and comprehensive assessment of the country’s first three decades of independent existence since 1971.
Muzharul Islam is the single most dominant influence on modern architecture in Bangladesh. Fifty eight years since he started his practice the influence continues. Other than the odd article here and there and references to his projects in others, there has been no major publication of his works. Muzharul Islam gave the first public lecture on his work at BRAC University in May, 2002 at the age of 78, when he had almost stopped designing. It was soon after his lecture that a book on his work was conceived. This was not an easy task since nowhere was his work documented.
Some of the micro-borrowers in Bangladesh have benefited in certain respects. A lot of them are struggling under the stringent terms of credit including high cost of borrowing and a weekly repayment schedule starting a week after a credit is taken. Many have gone further into indebtedness and face a bleak future. The micro-borrowers face the threat of expulsion and confiscation of their assets when they fail to pay up weekly installments; and some have in fact had their meagre assets confiscated when they failed to pay up. This threat is in effect collateral.
Bangladesh has made striking progress on a range of social indicators over the last 15 years, an achievement widely credited to the country's pluralist service provision regime. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have significantly expanded their services during this period and have shown that it is possible to scale up innovative antipoverty experiments into nationwide programs. The unique role of Bangladesh's NGOs is not confined to the delivery of social services and pro-poor advocacy.