Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. Total area of this country is 147,570 km2 56,977 sq miles. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma (Myanmar) to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. The capital (and largest city) is Dhaka; also it is the hub of all cultural, political and religious affairs. Together with the Indian state of West Bengal, it makes up the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal" in the official Bengali language.
Population:
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Total population 37 895 43 444 50 102 57 792 66 881 70 582 80 624 92 284 105 256 117 487 129 592 140 588 148 692
Population aged 0-14 (%) 41.2 42.4 43.6 44.7 44.7 45.8 45.0 43.9 42.5 40.3 37.3 34.3 31.3
Population aged 15-64 (%) 54.8 54.1 53.1 52.0 51.8 50.7 51.4 52.5 53.8 55.9 58.7 61.4 64.1
Population aged 65+ (%) 3.9 3.5 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.8 4.0 4.3 4.6
Naturally there is some uncertainty about the population, especially in a developing country such as Bangladesh with high illiteracy and a large rural population. For instance, in 2005 there was not a consensus whether Bangladesh or Russia had a larger population. The UN's ESA ranked Russia 7th in the world and Bangladesh 8th. However, the CIA World Fact book ranked Bangladesh 7th and Russia 8th in the same year. The point is now moot as the population of Russia is in decline while that of Bangladesh is growing. The baseline for population studies on Bangladesh is the official census which is conducted every 10 years, the last being in 2011. Bangladesh had high rates of population growth in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then however it has seen a marked reduction in its total fertility rate. Over a period of three decades it dropped from almost 7 to 2.4 in 2005-2010
Bangladesh Inflation Rate The inflation rate in Bangladesh was last reported at 11.3 percent in August of 2011. This page includes a chart with historical data for Bangladesh's Inflation Rate. Inflation rate refers to a general rise in prices measured against a standard level of purchasing power. The most well-known measures of Inflation are the CPI which measures consumer prices, and the GDP deflator, which measures inflation in the whole of the domestic economy.
Corruption:
It is defined as the actions of making someone or something morally depraved with dishonesty or fraudulent conduct. There are in all seven factors that should be considered when analyzing the risks that could be encountered related to the corruption of a country like Bangladesh, these are: 1. Location: The foreign countries which want to invest their money in Bangladesh need to remember that, Bangladesh is a bribe seeking country. They assume Bangladesh as a risky country, because if they want to do business here, bribing is mandatory, so this extra money will get attached to the investors production cost which will reduce their competitiveness. 2. Accounting Standards: In refer to accounting standard, Bangladesh is very risky country. Corruption in Bangladesh is so severe that, the auditing firms it selves are corrupted to perform accurate audit of the both public and private organization. In Bangladesh, the audit firm takes monetary benefits from the top management of particular organization, and makes audits to support those corrupted management employees. 3. Anti-corruption policy credibility and enforceability: In Bangladesh, there is an anti-corruption commission (ACC) which is not working as it should have. The Bangladeshi government is using it as puppet and they are forced to harass and embarrass the opposition parties only. The ACC is filing cases only to people who are against the Government, however, they are releasing the criminals who get support from Awami League government
4. Cultural Differences: Bangladesh does have cultural differences with foreign countries. When foreign investors want to invest their money in Bangladesh, they have to make sure that the investors get accustomed with the differences between countries. For example, the Citi NY is a multinational bank, which has branches all over the world. In most of the countries, their employees work from 8 a.m. to 5p.m, however, in Bangladesh, the Citi NY employees work from 9a.m to 8p.m. Thus, due to cultural differences, the process of operations sometimes needs to get changed. 5. Political leadership: Bangladesh is a risky country in referring about political leadership. Many politicians, bureaucrats and government officials are involved in corruption which reduces the efficiency of Bangladesh. Example: Ten Trucks Arms Cases The accused criminals include Jamaat e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, who is former industries minister, and former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar. These indicate that Bangladeshi political leadership is in deep trouble. Instead of solving problems, Bangladeshi politicians are creating trouble.
6. Political Change: In Bangladesh, the government officials are scared to take any decisions as
the government changes. They think, if they approve a big project of the country, they can suffer lawsuit from anti-corruption bureau. Therefore, Bangladesh is a risky country as their bureaucrats are not strong enough to take any major decisions unlike China and EU countries. 7. At Home: In papers, Bangladesh is against corruption, but in reality, it is one leading corrupted country of the world. There are no such laws that the Bangladeshi companies cannot give bribe to other domestic and international companies. Therefore, it is a risky country.
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of nonelected officials of a government or organizations who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officials and red tape. Before entering into a country for business, it is very important to analyze the structure as well as the nature of the bureaucracy in that particular country.
functions. The district still remains the most commonly used unit of administration. For administrative convenience, some contiguous districts are considered to comprise a division, while a district is subdivided into several police stations (Thanas). Thus, division, district, and Thana comprise the administrative sub-units of the country; several Thanas constitute a district, and some ten to twelve districts constitute a division. So, this procedure explains the accountability of public officials to their respective supervisor.
Caliber of Officialdom:
It is very important to investigate the calibers of the public officials and the kind of training they receive before joining to the job of a particular country before entering into the market, because at the time of doing the business you have to communicate with them. In Bangladesh the Public Service Commission of Bangladesh provides high quality of training to their officials. Having good educational background, intelligence, strong training and most importantly very good communication skill is must for the public officials of the country. It helps them to communicate with officials of the country and taking the advantage from them. For example: Recently Bangladesh government totally failed to take the advantage about the deed of Tista River as well as the transit only because of not having the enough caliber comparing with the Indian officials. As a result, Indian government is taking the advantage at continuous basis from the Bangladesh.
business it should be considered by the investor. In Bangladesh we see this kind of unethical practice by some of the public officials in department of different office. For example: In Bangladesh we see government officer in Sonali Bank are involved with different political party like CBA ( ). These people dont do any work for the country but destroy the money of the country by doing unethical activities. So this country is not a very good country to invest.
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Legal safeguard:
Elite Interest
The term Elite is originally from the Latin, ligers, which means "to elect". The elites are a relatively small dominant group within a large society, which enjoys a privileged status in comparison to other individuals' status in the society. The word elite were used in seventeenth century to describe commodities of particular excellence; and the usage was later extended to refer to superior social group. In case of Bangladesh, It has a small urban elite and rudimentary political culture. Compared with other developing countries, Bangladesh is religiously, linguistically, and socially homogeneous of a population of 127,567,000 (1998 estimate). During the British colonial period, Zamindars were elite group. Business elites are the major influential group with immense economic contribution to the national economy in a developing country like Bangladesh, and in a way having the power of manipulating the socio-political agendas of the nation. As example: we can mention about Salman F Rahman. He has powerful influence on government. He was the culprit for destruction of share market in 1996. But no action was taken against him. So in this case Bangladesh is in risky position. The group or individual who has influence on government and is related with the politics or political party is called political elite. There are many in Bangladesh like Sahara khatun, Col. Faruk etc. They have influence on the government decision though they do many wrong or illegal deeds for which no action was taken. As a result the foreigner investor might get it difficult to continue their normal business in Bangladesh. So Bangladesh is in riskier position. The media refers to channels of mass communications such as the radio, newspapers, television and the internet. The media has power over all of us to a greater or lesser extent. In Bangladesh the high profile intellectuals and business elites are mainly dominating this sector as being either the entrepreneur or the Chief
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Executive Like Kaniz Almas, Mahabubul Haque in Prothom Alo, Mosaddek Ali Falu, etc
Legal Culture:
Legal Culture indicates the process and length of judiciary process that whether it is slow or fast process. In case of Bangladesh the culture is slow. Bureaucracy of Bangladesh is so much complicated that any dispute or complain takes too much time to dismiss. In case of judiciary suit or case takes lot of time to have the verdict. Specially, the murder case and dispute regarding land and property in Bangladesh.
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It took 10 to 15 years to have the result. In Some cases the criminal of murder case is lost for forever.
Legislative Sophistication:
It indicates the understanding level of the people who deal with the legislative issue in a country. It explains the importance of understanding what are the rules and regulations need to perform in international business including different terms related with the international business. For example in joint venture business the conflict might arise between two parties and to solve this problem the legislative body must have to have the clear understanding regarding the joint venture and its international rules and regulation. Another example might be hedging which is one of the most important financial terms in international business. Hedging ensures the right amount of money is paid in future date which was set up in the past date. No matter the value of the money goes up or down. So these are the important rules, regulation and laws related with the international business must be clear to the legislative body and have to be up to date about the those regulations. If we consider Bangladesh, in perspective of legislative sophistication, it is not a riskier country in respect of other country because there are some knowledgeable legislative bodies available like Mahabubul Alam (Attorney General), Barister Moudud Ahmed etc.
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TFL Company for copying their trade name. But TFL Company could take legal action against it also. So Bangladesh is in Moderate risky in this sector.
Criminal Activities:
This is defined as activities which are against the rules and regulation of the country. Criminal activities are crimes against humanities, society and the well-being of the country. Drugs business, killing, robbery, kidnapping, extortions are prime examples of criminal works. In Bangladesh, we face a large amount of unlawful acts which are influenced and supported by our political parties that is Awami League and BNP. These parties use the criminals for their sake and destroying or polluting the nation.
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unhappy with some of his decisions about improving his city. Mr. Mayor believed that, to develop Narsinghdi, he needed help and support from both Awami League as well as BNP. That was a prime reason of his death. Murder of a personnel who is also a Mayor and vandalizing government structures, torching and destroying are also examples of political criminal activities. (Narsingdi Mayor Killing: Suranjit won't talk about Lokman murder, 2011)
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Bank Ltd and stole gold ornaments and other valuables which worth approximately several Crores of Taka. The branch of Brac Bank is situated on the first floor of a building which houses Hotel Nidmahal Residential right above the bank. According to Police, the robbers entered the locker room cutting through its ceiling, as they found a large hole cut through the floor of a hotel room right above the locker room. Police assumed that the robbers rented six rooms of the hotel and entered the bank's locker room through the hole on the floor of the room right above it. They also suspect the robbers stayed in the hotel for more than a month to plan the robbery. Police detained four Nidmahal staffs for interrogation, suspecting their involvement in the heist. Police also revealed, they are intensively interrogating the detainees Shah Alam, Supon Barua, Sujan, and Monir, who were actively involved in robbery. The incident suggested that it was a planned crime and the criminals knew about the location of the bolts as well as the valuables, I believe, the criminals were helped by some Brac officials who informed them about the bolts position which encouraged those thieves to perform such a notorious crime. (Robbers tunnel to bank locker, 2008)
Fraud
It is defined as deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain. (Houghton Mifflin Company, n.d) In Bangladesh, fraud is very common; people tend to fraud people to order to have financial gain. Banks and Educational institutions are primarily involved in fraud which is really sad for our country and its people. Examples: Massive fraud by Brac Bank in Bangladesh One of the leading financial institutions in Bangladesh, named Brack Bank, which is
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owned by one of the largest NGOs in the world, Brac, is into massive fraud that is looting millions of Taka. Brac Bank is drawing millions of Taka from the Customers accounts by creating secret lien facilities. Such case of massive fraud was discovered when a customer received a statement of his account, where he was surprised to see that the bank has created lien worth TK. 10 million and drew the amount in the name of the customer, even without notifying him. When the matter was brought to the attention of authorities of Brac Bank, they tried to justify such fraudulent actions saying, "It was done for the sake of customer's safety". Moreover, Brac Bank not only creates and withdraws money from the customer's account secretly through clean fraud, it also levies all interests accrued from the amount of lien on the customer, which is not only unethical and illegal but goes beyond the minimum level of banker-customer trust. Furthermore, such huge amounts of money drawn from the customer's accounts secretly are passed by Brac Bank to a number of hidden businesses, which are operated by the mid-level management of the Brac NGO. (Massive fraud by Brac Bank in Bangladesh, 2009) Fraud 'educational institution' continuing in Bangladesh Pearl Fashion Institute [PFI] is an Indianowned company operating in Bangladesh for past few years, thus selling degrees to innocent students by appealing them with false hopes and promises. PFI pretends to be a legitimate institution in Bangladesh, with 'affiliation' agreement with Nottingham Trent University in UK. It also receives millions of Taka from Bangladeshi students for its various graduation courses in textile technology. But, in reality, PFI has no license from Bangladesh government. However, Pearl Fashion Institute only holds a Trade License issue by
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Dhaka City Corporation to operate as a Vocational Training Center in the country. None of the foreign teachers of PFI, including Ms. Garima Srivastava, who runs the PFI show in Bangladesh, possess any work permit. All of the foreign teachers at PFI are working illegally. (How fraud 'institution' continuing in Bangladesh, 2011)
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Pohela Boishakh
Pohela Boishak is the first day of Bangla calendar, which is usually the 14th April. Bangladeshi people starts their celebration with the dawn, they go to the Ramna Park where the celebration starts with Rabindranath Tagore's song. Then they go to their relatives place to meet. Bangladeshi people likes to celebrate this day as well as they would like to do business on the day, because they believe that if they can do business on the first day then they would also be able to do a good business throughout the year.
Religious festivals
There are many religious festivals such as Eid and puja which are celebrated by all religion people. On these festivals day Bangladeshi people like to spend the day with their family and friends. Which means they take break from work on these days, thus it is a risky country as they would not work on these days.
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Personal Threats
Bangladesh is a third world country thus it cannot ensure safety measure that are in other countries. Bangladesh is a poor country thus it have a lot of lack ages, so before investing in to the country you should think about the following factors:
Pollution
Bangladesh is one of the most polluted country of the world, thus there is higher chance to fall sick. For foreigner it would be a highly risky country to live, because if they fall sick then they would not be able to work.
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seconds desperately tried to resist losing the contents of her bag. In this accident Eszter lost her bag, passport, credit cards and 20 percent of her skin.
Street awareness
In Bangladesh people do not follow any traffic signals for which road accidents are common in Bangladesh. Thus in Bangladesh people cross the street at their own risk, because they are reluctant of using foot over. While driving or walking in Bangladeshi roads you have to be careful and always keep distance from others or else you might die due to others fault.
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reported to have carried out seven bomb explosions in the Chhoto Gurgola area of Dinajpur town in which three persons were wounded. Activities This extremist group blasts their Bombs with the help of suicide bomber and leaves threatening leaflet. On August 17, 2005, the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh staged a spectacular series of coordinated bombings across the nation, detonating approximately 400 devices within the space of 45 minutes in 63 of the country's 64 districts, but killing only three people. One of the objectives of JMB is to free Muslims of the influence of 'anti-Islam forces' and practices that brought women out of their houses. Espousing a radical variant of Islam, the outfit is opposed to cultural functions, cinema halls, shrines and NGOs. Leader: Maulana Saidur Rahman is known to be currently heading the JMB after the March 30, 2007 execution of the top six militant leaders. Although there is no authenticity about the size of the strength of SAH, the groups leader Kawsar claimed that the outfit has 10 thousand commandos and 25 thousand fighters working in the country to bring Islamic revolution.
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1996 after the Awami League (AL) came to power. The HuJI-B was proscribed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led coalition Government on October 17, 2005. Leadership The HuJI-B is led by Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid. Imtiaz Quddus is the general secretary of the outfit. The outfit's operations commander, Mufti Abdul Hannan was arrested in Dhaka on October 1, 2005. Cadres Although there is no authoritative information on the actual cadre strength, most reports mention it to be around 15,000. Several of these recruits were trained in the Kormi and Kasia areas of Bangladesh. Further, many hundred recruits were reportedly trained at various training camps in Afghanistan, primarily during the reign of the Taliban.
Hizbut Touhid:
Hizbut Touhid was established in 1994 at Korotia village in Tangail district of Bangladesh. The organization is led by Bayezid Khan Panni of Tangail alies Selim Panni who claimed himself to be the Imam-Uz-Zaman,meaning someone just after the prophet of Islam. Hizbut Touhid aspires to establish a world under the leadership of Imam Uz Zaman. It is against democracy and democratic institutions as it considers them to be the rules of evil. Also, the organization opposes leadership of women in politics and also working of women. It also feels that the Muslims who are not following the ideology of Hizbut Touhid are not real Muslim. The organization believes that every men and women in Islam are armies of Allah and they should behave like armies in every walk of their lives. Hizbut Chief Panni has written many books like Dazzal and This Islam is not at all Islam. In the book Dazzal Panni argues that Jews and Christian should be eliminated by the Muslims. The groups promotes armed struggle
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for establishment of Islamic rule in the world. Books and leaflets written by its Imam Panni are the main guiding force for the group. CDs, books and leaflets are widely distributed among people to attract cadres. Through these leaflets the group urges people to join them to establish Islamic rule, rejecting all manmade laws.
Hizb-ut Tehrir:
Hizbut Tehrir Bangladesh is part of the global Sunni political party that aspires to establish Khilafat by uniting all Islamic countries. Like its counter parts worldwide it wants to establish Shariah in Bangladesh. Hizb-ut Tehrir has three clear goals: to establish a community of like-minded Hizb-ut Tehrir members in host states, to sway public opinion in one or more host states to facilitate change of government, and, finally, to establishment a new government that will implement Islamic laws. Recently, Hizb-ut Tehrir has published Islamic Manifesto for Bangladesh demanding a Khilafat, implementation of Shariah law,no foreign ownership of any of the countrys resources and most important- no agreement can be signed with India other than ceasefire agreement. Tehrir is also against participating in elections as it views elections are contrary to Shariah law. The Chief of Tehrir in Bangladesh is Mohiuddin Ahmed. Its cadres are mostly university students
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Precautionary Measures
International Travel:
1. Before coming to Bangladesh the foreigners should request for a security risk briefing. It is the companys duty to inform their delegates for a foreign risk briefing. If s/he dont have proper idea regarding Bangladesh then it will be difficult for them to work properly. Example: In risk briefing for Bangladesh the foreigners are asked to wear Salwar Kameez because it is the traditional dress of Bangladesh. And if the foreigners wear western clothes in Bangladesh the uneducated lower class people will keep staring at them which can be a little uneasy for them. Then the instructor guides them where to deal with people and where not, in what vehicles to ride and in what not to ride etc. 2. While travelling the foreigners should not display their companys logo. If the foreigners carry such companys Logo which is very famous and big then s/he might get kidnapped. If s/he is being kidnapped then it will the companys responsibility to give the money to the kidnapper and make the foreigner free. But this is not common in Bangladesh. 3. Foreigners should not discuss about their business identity or purpose with fellow passengers. Bangladeshi people like to interfere in other peoples personal matter so the keep asking questions and questions. But the foreigners should not reply them. 4. Foreigners should arrange to have someone familiar to pick them up at the airport because the CNG and Taxi drivers of Bangladesh are involved in kidnapping gang.
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They will take away all the money and belongings of them and sometimes they can kill you as well. 5. Before coming to Bangladesh the foreigners should leave a copy of their detailed itinerary with a friend, family or secretary so that if their passports get lost they can have the photocopy to give that to the police.
Medical Safety:
Foreigners should carry common medicines as per doctors advice. They should at least have some anti-allergic medicines because there is lots of dust in the roads of Dhaka city. Foreigners might get allergy / cold because of this.
Hotel Safety:
The foreigners should stay in reputed hotels like The Shonargaon Hotel, Ruposhi Bangla hotel, Raddison Hotel; The Westin etc. the cheap hotels at Bangladesh are not safe at all. In those hotels the staffs may be involved with robbery gangs. They will take all their money and then kill him/her. In Bangladesh the foreigners should stay in between third to eight floor. Because if hotel is in fire then the fire brigade service wont be able to blow off fire above 8th floor as Bangladesh doesnt have that technology yet.
Street Awareness;
The foreigners should know the uniform of law enforcement agencies like police, RAB because if they fall in any danger then they can go to the nearest police station or the nearest police for help. Foreigners should not travel in high crime rate areas.
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Those areas are very much risky and the police are also involved in kidnapping, drug dealing business. So foreigners should not travel to Gulistan, Mirpur Pir Majar etc.
Transportation:
The foreigners should hire rent-a-car or companys car, or car from tours and travel. The foreigners should not ride the yellow cab or CNGs. The drivers of those transports are sometimes involved in criminal activities.
PLANT SECURITY:
Safe-Houses:
Safe houses are especially building secured houses which are built to keep people safe during any disaster or any war or uprising when the foreigners cant get out of the country. Safe houses are kept safe and the people wont know that where the safe house is. But the foreigners can stay there for 3 months as all the daily necessary things are being kept there. Safe houses are commonly used by multinational companies. Nowadays all the big multinational companies and embassies have safe houses.
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Bibliography
Culture of Bangladesh. (October 2011). Retrieved December 10, 2011, from 2011Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Bangladesh Dhaka Become Vulnerable To Criminal Activities. (2009, August 20). Retrieved December 1, 2011, from 2011 - Zimbio, Inc: http://www.zimbio.com/Bangladesh/articles/hgpkE2lNRNF/Dhaka+Become+Vulnera ble+Criminal+Activities Houghton Mifflin Company. (n.d). The free dictionary by Farlex. Retrieved Decemeber 01, 2011, from 2011 Farlex, Inc.: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fraud How fraud 'institution' continuing in Bangladesh. ( 2011, May 25). Retrieved December 01, 2011, from 2011 Weekly Blitz: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1457/howfraud-institution-continuing-in-bangladesh Massive fraud by Brac Bank in Bangladesh. ( 2009, March 18). Retrieved December 1, 2011, from 2011 Weekly Blitz: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/215/massive-fraud-bybrac-bank-in-bangladesh Mugged, Dragged and Scarred: harrowing tale from foreigner in Dhaka. (23, August 2011). Retrieved December 10, 2011, from: http://jessicamudditt.wordpress.com/tag/crime-against-foreigners-in-dhaka/ Narsingdi Mayor Killing: Suranjit won't talk about Lokman murder. (2011, November 12). Retrieved December 1, 2011, from 2011 Priyo: http://news.priyo.com/politics/2011/11/12/narsingdi-mayor-killing-suranj-42286.html Robbers tunnel to bank locker. ( 2008, January 8). Retrieved December 1, 2011, from thedailystar.net, 1991-2008: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/newsdetails.php?nid=18322
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