Portal:Bangladesh

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The Bengali Language Movement (Bengali: ভাষা আন্দোলন; Bhasha Andolon), also known as the Language Movement, was a political effort in Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan), advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of Pakistan. Such recognition would allow Bengali to be taught in schools and used in government affairs.

When the state of Pakistan was formed in 1947, its two regions, East Pakistan (also called East Bengal) and West Pakistan, were split over cultural, geographical, and linguistic lines. In 1948, the Government of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Pakistan. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. In 1999, UNESCO declared 21 February International Mother Language Day, in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world.

The Language Movement catalysed the assertion of Bengali national identity in Pakistan, and became a forerunner to Bengali nationalist movements, including the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. In Bangladesh, 21 February is observed as Language Movement Day, a national holiday. (more...)

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• June 11: Bangladesh Caretaker Government frees former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (VoA)

• May 22: The interim Government of Bangladesh starts discussions with political parties about next general election. (BBC)

• May 19: Dhaka high court approves citizenship for Biharis who were minors when Bangladesh won independence in 1971 or born after. (BBC)

• May 13: At least 44 people drown as a river ferry capsizes. (Reuters)

• April 16: Train-bus collision in Tangail district kills at least 17 people and injures 19 others. (IHT)

• April 14: Train service between Dhaka, Bangladesh and Kolkata, India, resumes after 43 years with the inauguration of Maitreyi Express. (Financial Express)

• April 13: Bangladesh in critical shape as people desperate for food. Estimate show that 30 million poor could go hungry. See World food crises 2007-08. (AP)

• March 15: Biman Bangladesh Airlines signs MoU to buy 8 Boeing planes for $1.265 bln. (reuters)

• March 5: The Government announces nominations for the Independence Day Award of 2008. (Daily Star)

• February 28: Ferry accident in Bangladesh claims 45 lives. (AFP)

• February 21: Bangladesh observes Language Movement Day with reverence. (Daily Star)

• February 19: Nine distinguished personalities are awarded Ekushey Padak 2008. (Daily Star)

• February 13: The immigration advisory service in Britain warn that restrictions on immigration of Bangladeshis to the UK was leading to shortages in curry houses and having an impact on the industry. (guardian)

• February 8: A plague of rats destroy crops in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (BBC)

• February 3: Bird flu spreads in Bangladesh, port city on alert. (reuters)

• February 1: Scientists of Rajshahi science and culture research center produces cassava flour as an alternative to much costlier wheat. (Prothom Alo)

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Wari-Bateshwar is the site of an ancient fort city dating back to 450 BC. This 2,500 years old site is a significant archaeological discovery that challenges the earlier notions about the existence of early urban civilisation in Bangladesh. Do you know where in Bangladesh is Wari-Bateshwar ruins?

Wari-Bateshwar ruins

The site is about 75km from Dhaka situated near the Wari and Bateshwar villages in the Belabo Upazila of Narsingdi District under Dhaka Division in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh.

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On Language Movement Day of 1953, two of the greatest leaders of the history of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (3rd from right) and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (4th from right) participated in the morning procession (known as Probhat Ferry) to protest the killing of students on the same date the previous year.

Photo credit: Rama's Arrow

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• ...that the ship breaking industry in Sitakunda began when a 20,000-ton ship was accidentally beached by a tidal bore in 1965?
• ...that the Bangabhaban has served as the official residence for the Viceroy of India, Governor of East Pakistan and the President of Bangladesh?
• ...that Sholakia, a tiny town in Bangladesh, draws 300,000 Muslims for Eid prayers every year on Eid ul-Fitr?
• ...that Chalan Beel, a wetland in Bangladesh, is getting vastly reduced in size with fast silting up caused by the inflow of 47 rivers and waterways?
• ...that the Tagore family, with over three hundred years of history, has exercised the greatest influence on reawakened Bengali spirit?
• ...that the Sannyasi Rebellion was a series of clashes between Indian ascetics and the British East India Company during the eighteenth century in Bengal?
• ...that Islam Khan was the founder of the modern city of Dhaka and the first Mughal general to subjugate Bengal?
• ...that the Armenian community of Dhaka played a major role in education in Bangladesh, and owned major landmarks like the gardens of Shahbag and Bangabhaban?
• ...that Matir Moina, a Bangladeshi film by Tareque Masud, was temporarily banned by censors in Bangladesh before becoming the country's first film to compete for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category?
• ...that Asif Hossain Khan, a Commonwealth Games gold medal winner for Bangladesh at the age of just 15, was brutally beaten and seriously injured by the police of his own country?
  Archive...

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Bagha Jatin (Bengali: বাঘা যতীন), born Jatindranath Mukherjee (Jotindrônath Mukhopaddhæe) was a Bengali Indian revolutionary philosopher against British rule. Jatin was born on 7 December 1879 in Kayagram, a village in the Kushtia subdivision of Nadia district in present day Bangladesh. Jatin spent his early life at in his ancestral home at Jhenaidah and in his maternal home at Kushtia. He moved to Calcutta after passing the Entrance examination. Several sources mention Jatin as being among the founders of the Anushilan Samiti in 1900. The Samiti activities subsequently spread to many of the districts of Bengal flourished particularly at Kushtia, where Jatindra Nath was the leader. In 1906 Jatin servived an attack by a Bengal Tiger and managed to kill the tiger with only a dagger. This act of heroism made him famous.

A few years later Jatin became the principal leader of the Yugantar party that was the central association of revolutionaries in Bengal. Having personally met the German Crown-Prince in Calcutta shortly before the World War I, he had obtained the promise of arms and ammunition from Germany; as such, he was responsible for the planned German Plot during World War I. Another of his original contributions was the indoctrination of the Indian soldiers in various regiments in favour of an insurrection. Bagha Jatin was injured by police bullets near Chashakhand in Balasore. He died in Balasore hospital on 10 September 1915. (more)

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