Images: In the 1960s, when thinking about India's myriad social and economic problems, various social scientists and journalists conjured up horrifying visions of unbridled population growth, famine, mass starvation, and, ultimately, political collapse. Owing to the efforts of the Indian state, coupled with U.S. technical expertise and advice, the specter of megadeath that had so haunted the popular imagination became chimerical. India not only grew enough food to feed its own population but became a net exporter of food. Today, apart from the African Sahel, the only other area of the world that generates such images are certain areas of South Asia. Bangladesh comes foremost to mind. With one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world ($150) and with almost 90 percent of is population below the official poverty line, such fears do seem to have more credence.
How did Bangladesh, a fragment of the old unified Pakistan, reach its present calamitous state? What prospects does the present regime of General Ershad have for improving the physical quality of life? What are some of the political challenges that it currently faces? These are some of the more compelling questions that any observer of South Asian politics must consider.
While facile answers to these questions seen to abound, they really do not explain the enormous, indeed unimaginable, problems that the leaders of Bangladesh faced when it achieved independence from Pakistan in 1971. Until 1971, East Pakistan had essentially been West Pakistan's internal colony. The various regimes in West Pakistan, whether civilian or military, had chosen to industrialize one segment of the country at the cost of another. East Pakistanis served as "hewers of wood and drawers of water." The state's primary commodities--tea, rice, jute, rubber, fish, and leather--were exported. The export earnings were rarely invested in an equitable fashion. Furthermore, various social scientists have thoroughly documented that the bulk of foreign aid was disbursed in West Pakistan.
Coupled with the consequences of these inequitable economic policies were the ravages of the 1971 "war of liberation." In the course of this brutal war of independence, the already poor nation saw much of its infrastructure destroyed. On assuming power, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was to quickly discover the unhappy economic legacy that he had inherited.
Bangabandhu's Inheritance
As the euphoria of liberation dissipated and compelling economic problems plagued his poor nation, Mujib (or Bangabandhu, "friend of Bengal," as he was popularly known) displayed little ability to tackle them forthrightly. Though he was undoubtedly a great leader and a superb orator with no paucity of political acumen, he lacked the ability to foster and strengthen political institutions. Nor was he able or willing to put an end to the currents of political corruption that swirled around him, especially those engaged in by members of his own party, the Awami League. Instead, he systematically attempted to decimate his political opposition by creating a paramilitary force personally loyal to him (the Rakhi Bahini or, literally, "protection force") and eventually banning all political parties. In their place, in 1975 he created a single unified party, the BAKSAL, or the Bangladesh Krishak-Sramik Awami League (literally the Bangladesh Peasants/Workers Freedom
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