
The decade preceding the 1947 Indian partition was an eventful period, with profound impact on the subsequent political developments of the states thus created. Though works dealing with this period abound, most of these have an all-India focus. There is a dearth of research-based books and other works covering the Bengal situation. Bengal, then a Muslim-majority province in eastern India, was the bastion of the Muslim League/Pakistan movement.
Elections under caretaker governments are a common practice to be found in most parliamentary democracies of the world. Usually an outgoing government acts as the caretaker administration. But Bangladesh has deviated from this established democratic tradition. The Constitution now requires that a non-party caretaker government (NCG) run the routine administration of the country for a limited period of time between the dissolution of parliament and the appointment of a prime minister after the constitution of a new parliament.
Committees are ubiquitous. They are found in all types of legislatures- large or small, old or new. Parliamentary committees are important because they can provide a number of values that are not easily available otherwise. However, although it is widely acknowledged that committees have greater resilience in Congressional and Continental systems than in Westminster-style democracies, there are not many studies that explore variations in committee influence and impact in the latter. This volume intends to fill this gap.
This book contains essays for discussion and amendment. The author has tried to describe and analyse one of the most enduring issues of our time in order to facilitate a different understanding of the event. The effects of nationalism, militarism, fundamentalism and democracy manifest themselves as a powerful pressure with significant effects on our human environment. It has widened the gap between concern and decision and has impassibly divided Bangladesh society.
This book is an attempt to bring the complexities and multiplicities of violence inflicted against women and the different dimensions of militarisation. Several issues however inform and shape the South Asian complexities with respect to women and militancy, and the book attempts to address them both theoretically and empirically. Firstly, the book looks at the challenges and contradiction. South Asia has outstanding women leaders at the state level, but violence against women and that too of varied nature is on the rise.
The Politics of Nationalism examines the process of nationality construction within the Hill people of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. The book places the issue in an historical context and begins with the first encounter of the Hill people with the British in 1760; it traces their loss of independence and consequent marginalisation within the colonial state. The book then argues that nation-state is tuned to the needs and aspirations of the dominant community; and the Hill people being the subordinate group continued to be marginalised within the State of Pakistan and then Bangladesh.
The study is a pioneering attempt on civil service management in Bangladesh. The study is a unique blend of practitioner's knowledge and academic insight of the operation of the administrative machinery of Bangladesh. As many as ten key aspects of management have been identified, analysed and evaluated in depth with suggested actions for the future. These areas are both conventional and new. The conventional areas include recruitment, training, pay, pension, promotion etc.
This volume consists of 26 columns published earlier in various leading dailies between the years 2004 and 2006. The need for publication of the columns was felt because of the almost unending debate on religion-based militancy. The major political parties did not fail to have polarised views on the issue based on politics of denial and politics of confrontation. The media and the civil society, on the other hand, contributed to a more informed understanding of the much-debated subject of terrorism.
In positivist social sciences measurement is an important exercise in determining casual and correlational relationship. Efforts at constructing Human Security Index (HIS) picked up momentum following the introduction of Human Development Index (HDI) by the end in 1993. He provides the site for measuring the interface between the downsides of development and various levels and sources of insecurities. The traditional debate between ‘freedom from want’ and ‘freedom from fear’ is also reflected here.