Word: bangladesh
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Many of the problems are, of course, legacies of the nine-month civil war, in which West Pakistan tried to smother the independence movement of Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan). Apart from costing the lives of an estimated 3,000,000 Bengalis, the repression ravaged the countryside. According to a United Nations agency report, more than 4,617,000 houses were completely or partially destroyed in an area roughly the size of Wisconsin. In addition, the country's primitive river and rail transportation systems were mangled, and the jute industry, which had accounted for 90% of East Pakistan...
...depredations of the war are not the only reasons for Bangladesh's slow progress. Jute manufacturing, now running at 25% to 30% of capacity, has been hampered by labor squabbles and by a shortage of professional managers necessary to run the nationalized industry efficiently. Tea production, the nation's second most important industry, is also in trouble because most of the low-grade Bangladesh tea used to be sold in West Pakistan, and alternative markets have not been found. Lack of trade with West Pakistan,* which formerly supplied Bangladesh with many of its manufactured goods, has contributed, along...
Relief. Things could be worse. After all, the people of Bangladesh have suffered three consecutive years of natural or man-made disasters-a calamitous cyclone in 1970, the civil war in 1971, and a crop-crippling drought this year. That they have not experienced mass starvation is largely due to a massive inpouring of foreign relief, totaling $1.2 billion. The largest contribution, $328 million, comes from the U.S., which has given considerably more than Bangladesh's staunch political allies, India ($258 million) and the Soviet Union ($101 million). Much of the relief has been in the form of food...
...Bangladesh had little reason to enjoy a happy first birthday. If it is not the "basket case" that Henry Kissinger once called it, neither has it become the Shonar Bangla (Golden Bengal) envisioned by Mujib. How much this is the fault of Mujib is a moot question. It is true that he has had little time in which to combat some of Bangladesh's immense problems. Nevertheless, some critics contend that he has wasted some of the time playing the role of popular revolutionary figure (such as personally receiving virtually any of his people who call on him) when...
...Though Bangladesh and Pakistan do not officially recognize each other yet, some clandestine trade is being conducted in both directions via Singapore...