The contribution of Mother tongue


  • Number 14 by pramuditalina




The contribution of Mother tongue

There is no denying the fact that  by our active movement, it is documented as International Mother language Day on 21st February in every year through out the whole world and it is consecrated by swaging flowers and holding the memories in the highest regard to those language martyrs who had laid down their lives for the cause of launching the dignity of our survival as a nation uprising our heads like other nations virtually. The 21st February is a red-letter day in the history of our mother tongue. It is a very significant day in view of good verdict that we have been able to pioneer our mother tongue as our state language. It is our glory and inspiration that we have accomplished freedom from the movement of this day. We think that we could not achieve our freedom if 21st February was not emergent in 1952. Due to the movement of this day, we have shown our agitation against the rulers of the then Pakistan. To speak the truth, the 21st February, as a symbol of blaze illumination is our rectitude for which our survival as Bengali nation has been reproduced through out the whole world. As compared to socio-economic condition of the erstwhile Pakistan, the recent economic profile so far data have been collected in due course has been enumerated as follows:
A monetary profile of Bangladesh

·         The Country

:
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh
·         Brief history
:
Documentation history is traceable to the fourth century B.C. with clear facts of prosperous society, consisting of cities, palaces, temples, forts, seats of learning and monasteries: 1200 A.D. – introduction of the Muslims; 17th century – a time of fiscal well beings; 1757 – beginning of British colonial rule; 1947-departure of British from Indian Subcontinent and Bangladesh becomes East Bengal/East Pakistan as part of Pakistan; 1971-emergence of the sovereign state of Bangladesh through a bloody and devastating armed struggle against the Pakistani force.
·         Geographical location

South Asia; between 20 degree 34 and 26 degree 38 north latitude and between 88 degree 01 and 92 degree 41 east longitude; consists of flat fertile alluvial land.
·         Boundaries

North   – India (West Bengal and Meghalaya)
West   – India (West Bengal)
East    – India (Tripura and Assam) and Myanmar(Burma)
South – The Bay of Bengal
·         Area
:
1,47,570 sq. km. (Territorial water – 12 nautical miles)
·         Administrative divisions
:
The country is divided into 6 divisions (Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet), 64 Districts and 460 Thanas (Sub-districts).
·         Capital City
:
Dhaka
·         Standard time
:
GMT +6 hours
·         Climate
:
Sub-tropical monsoon
·         Climate variation
:
Winter (December – February) temperature: average maximum 29oC, average minimum 11oC.
Summer (April-June) temperature: Average maximum 32oC, average minimum 21oC.
Unfortunately, Bangladesh has to face, quite frequently, natural disasters of great magnitude.  Being located at the mouth of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra delta, Bangladesh often gets submerged by abnormal floods during July-September and severe tropical cyclones accompanied by tidal waves during October to mid-December and during the April-May period causing very heavy loss of human lives, physical infrastructure and production, both in agricultural and industrial sectors.
·         Rainfall
:
1194 mm to 3454 mm (average during monsoon, June – August).
·         Humidity
:
Highest: 99 per cent (July)
Lowest : 36 per cent (December & January)
·         Vegetation
:
Grassland, mixed evergreen and evergreen
·         Population
:
Bangladesh is the eighth most populous country and one of the most densely populated countries in the world.  According to the results of the 1991 census, the total population of Bangladesh was 111.4 million (March 1991) and the population growth rate was 2.17 per cent.  In January 2000, the total population stood at 130.2 million and the population growth rate was 1.5 per cent.  The percentage of population living in rural areas is about 80 per cent (2000).
·         Adult literacy rate (15 years+), (2000)
:
60 per cent (compulsory and free primary education)
·         Birth rate (per 1000 persons), (1999)
:
23.60
·         Death rate (per 1000 persons), (1999)
:
8.00
·         Infant mortality rate (deaths per 1000 live births before one year), (1999)
:
66.00
·         Total fertility rate per woman (1997)
:
3.30
·         Contraceptive use rate (1998)
:
51.50 per cent
·         Life expectancy (1999)
:
Male      – 60.80 years

Female   – 59.60 years

·         Average age of women at first marriage (1998)
:
20.2 years
·         Population per hospital bed (1999)
:
4251
·         Population per doctor (1999)
:
4599
·         Percentage of family using safe drinking water (1998)
:
96.2 per cent
·         Ethnic groups
:
Predominantly mixed group of Proto Austroloids/Dravidians, Mongoloids and Aryans
·         Language
:
95 per cent Bangla (State language) and 5 per cent other dialects
English is widely spoken.
·         Religion
:
Muslim (88.3%), Hindu (10.5%), Buddhist (0.6%), Christian (0.3%) and Animists and believers in tribal faiths (0.3%).
·         Food
:
 Rice, wheat, potato, sweet potato, vegetables, pulses, fish and meat.
·         Principal crops
:
Rice, wheat, potato, spices, pulses, jute, tea, tobacco and sugarcane
·         Principal rivers
:
Padma, Brahmaputra, Jamuna, Meghan, Karnaphuli, Teesta, etc. Total 230 rivers including tributaries.
·         Mineral resources
:
Natural gas, limestone, hard rock, coal, lignite, silica sand, white clay, radioactive sand, etc. (There is a strong possibility of oil deposit).
·         Human resources
:
Bangladesh boasts of a substantial manpower reserve _ trained, skilled, engineers, technicians, physicians, lawyers, economists, accountants, administrative and managerial personnel.  There is abundance of low cost, easily trainable and adaptable and hard working intelligent labour force.
·         Employment and labour force (as per Labour Force Survey, 1995/96)
:
Civilian labour force: 56.0 million; Male – 35.0 million and female – 21.0 million.  Percentage of labour force: Agriculture – 63.2, Industry (manufacturing, electricity and gas) – 7.7, Others – 29.1.
·         Form of government
:
The country has a parliamentary form of government headed by the Prime Minister.  The President is the constitutional head of the state.  The number of seats in the National Parliament is 300.
·         Principal industries
:
Garments, textile, jute, tea, paper and newsprint, fertilizer, leather and leather goods, sugar, cement, ceramic, fish processing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering and ship building, iron and steel, oil refinery, paints, colors and varnishes, cigarettes, electric and wires and electrical goods and accessories.
·         Traditional export items
:
Raw jute, jute manufactures (hessian sacking, carpet backing, carpets), jute products, tea, leather and leather products, etc.
·         Non-traditional export items
:
Garments, frozen shrimps, other fish products, newsprint, paper, naphtha, furnace oil, urea, etc.
·         Principal imports
:
Petroleum products, food grains, oil seeds, crude petroleum, raw cotton, edible oil, fertilizer, cement, staple fibers, yarn, iron and steel, machinery and capital goods, medicines, motor cars, etc.
·         Principal partners of foreign trade
:
USA, EU, Japan, India, Pakistan, Canada, China, South Korea, Russia, etc.
·         Bangladesh in international forum
:
Bangladesh is a member of many international and regional organisations including United Nations, Commonwealth, SAARC, OIC, World Bank, IMF, IFC, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNHCR, FAO, WHO, ILO, ADB, IDB, SAPTA, WTO (formerly GATT) and so on.
·         Tourism
:
With growing international interest in traveling through Asia, tourism is taking roots in BangladeshBangladesh offers a variety of historically significant and culturally unique sites for tourists.  Sylhet’s tea gardens, Cox’s Bazar sea-beach, the Royal Bengal Tiger, deer and the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world with unique bio-diversity offer tourist attractions.  Ancient mosques, Buddhist monasteries, Hindu temples, monuments and other landmarks dot the countryside.
·         Currency
:
Taka (TK)
1 US Dollar = TK 49.37 (as on September 22, 1999).
·         Central Bank
:
Bangladesh Bank
·         Bank rate
:
8 per cent
The Economy:


·         GDP at current price, 1999-2000 (provisional)
:
TK 2412.78 billion
US $48.56 billion (approximately)
·         Annual per capital GDP, 1999-2000
:
TK 18528
US $373 (approximately)
·         GDP growth rate at constant price, 1999-2000
:
5 per cent
·         Inflation rate (consumer price index), 1999-2000
:
6 per cent
·         Gross domestic investment/GDP, 1999-2000
:
22.41 per cent

Public – 6.73 per cent and

Private – 15.68 per cent
·         Gross national savings/GDP, 1999-2000
:
21. 8 per cent
·         Exports, 1998-99
:
US $ 5324 million
·         Imports, 1998-99
:
US $ 8018 million
·         Foreign remittances, 1998-99
:
US $ 1706 million
·         Government revenue income/GDP, 1999-2000
:
10.01 per cent
·         Government revenue expenditure/GDP, 1999-2000
:
14.99 per cent
·         Deficit/GDP, 1999-2000
:
4.98 per cent
·         Foreign exchange reserves (as on 4 May, 2000)
:
US $ 1622 million
·         Annual Development Programme, 1999-2000
:
TK. 155 billion
·         Debt service/exports
:
12.1 per cent
·         Sect oral contribution to GDP, 1999-2000 (provisional)
:

-       Agriculture
:
31.9 per cent
-       Industry
:
11.1 per cent
-       Construction
:
6.4 per cent
-       Electricity, Gas, Water and Sanitary
:
1.7 per cent
-       Transport and Communication
:
12.4 per cent
-       Trade and other services
:
10.2 per cent
-       Housing
:
6.8 per cent
-       Public Administration
:
5.7 per cent
-       Bank and Insurance
:
1.7 per cent
-       Profession and miscellaneous services
:
12.1 per cent
·         Foreign aid
:
Total foreign aid received (from 1971-72 to 1998-99):  US $ 34753 million
Balance of repayable debt (at the end of 1998-99): US $ 14840 million
·         Food grains production (1999‑2000)
:
20.16 million MT (net)
·         Total demand for food grains (1999-2000)
:
21.36 million MT
·         Forest
:
Forestry accounts for 2.3 per cent of GDP (1999-2000).  Total forest land covers an area of 2.5 million hectares (about 17 per cent of the total land area).  Out of this only 45 per cent area is covered with trees and plants.  Principal forest products are timber, firewood, golpata, bamboo, sungrass, honey, wax, and cane and rattan.  The Sundarbans is the national forest.  The famous Royal Bengal Tiger is found here.

From the above view point, it is clear that after the emergence of Bangladesh such profile of economy either Micro or Macro has been achieved due to active intervention of our people in different sectors of development. This identity whatever we posses were not possible if 21st February was not created to retaliate the tyrannical boom of the then rulers of Pakistan. And as such, in this day some young persons of our country have declared indomitable movement to create confrontation against the conspiracy of our mother tongue. They have intensified the movement by degrees and being polemical, the then rulers have invaded them and ultimately they had shot them dead. This is such a movement where our heroes have laid down their lives for the cause of dignity of our mother tongue. In the whole world, such unparalleled movement has never been taken place. Like each year, this year has carried out this day with due somber mood and prominence and as such we celebrate this day with honour according to the heritage of the country. This day is mixed with our Independence Day as if it is mixed with our blood. The heroes who have laid down their lives for the cause of our equality, liberty and national prestige of our country shall remain ever memorable to us.


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