Academic and Reference Books

This book assesses the extent to which fairness prevails in various aspects of Bangladesh’s politics, judiciary and society at large. It starts by examining fairness as a concept and social norm before moving onto a detailed assessment of the electoral process in Bangladesh. Several chapters are devoted to the coasts and benefits of the caretaker government system. One chapter focuses on the implications of the ‘clean candidates’ campaign launched by civil society during the last election. Another set of articles revolves around multiple dimensions of governance.

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the need for a social revolution has been felt and talked about by the middle class in Bengal. But, ironically, it was the middle class itself that has hindered the revolution. The state has changed in size and name but not in character, indicating that relationships within society have remained basically as they were before. This book examines the double role of the Bengali middle class. Middle class's participation in politics and achievements in the fields of education, literature and culture have been remarkable.

The mapping of the changing historical relationships between people, lands and identities in the central tribal belt of India and in north-eastern parts of the South-Asian subcontinent, sets the context for this study's investigation of one of the world's least known minority situations. The currently muted drama of human rights violations and escalating livelihood crisis among the Adivasis in north-western Bangladesh unfolds within a sub-region of bewilderingly many and interconnected ethnic and ethno-nationalistic struggles for political recognition.

The book is a chronology of events surrounding the assassination of late President Ziaur Rahman and the aftermath, as well as a brief commentary on Zias rise to power. The author, who was Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong at the time of Zia's assassination, narrates these events from his perspective. It is a riveting account of the last hours of the most powerful man of Bangladesh that time, and the series of events leading to the capture and assassination of another freedom fighter, late Maj. Gen. Manzoor Hussain.