First year of Bangladesh: Bangabandhu’s nation-building challenges

FEBRUARY 2, 1972

BANGABANDHU MEETS AURORA

Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, C-in-C, Eastern Command of India, calls on Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at his official residence. Aurora was accompanied by Maj Gen BN Sarkar.

Purchase of luxury items by govt offices banned

Bangabandhu issues an order banning with immediate effect the purchase of luxury items such as new carpets, air conditioners and costly furniture by government departments and autonomous bodies. Referring to the present economic situation, Bangabandhu asks officials to use old items as long as they remain serviceable. The officials are also ordered to incur minimum expenditure on entertainment.

Speedy return of Bangladeshi refugees

John Kelly, the special representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangladesh who has been in Bangladesh since August 1971, describes the quick implementation of the programme of the home-coming of refugees as an outstanding achievement. “It is remarkable,” he observes.

The United Nations Relief Operation Dacca (UNROD) is currently assessing the relief needed for the rehabilitation of the returnees.

Those returning are coming back through the recognised routes and are provided with two blankets per family, 14 days’ food and a cash amount to meet the travel expenses from the transit centres in Bangladesh to their destinations. As many as 280 transit centres have been set up for them. The returnees are brought to the centres by buses and lorries from the camps in India. They are inoculated and registered at transit centres where they are also offered food until they are sent to their respective destinations.

Indonesia recognises Bangladesh

Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, recognises Bangladesh. Indonesia is the first Muslim nation to recognise the new-born country.

This decision by Indonesia disproves Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai’s today’s claim -- “The fact that none of the Muslim countries have so far recognised the ‘so-called’ Bangladesh shows that the Muslim world is condemning ‘Indian aggression’.” 

Prague buys jute on cash

Czechoslovakia has agreed to buy jute on cash payment from Bangladesh pending the conclusion of a barter trade agreement between the two countries. The Czechoslovakia trade team in Dhaka has agreed to purchase about 21,000 bales of jute.

Nationalisation programme on the cards

Syed Nazrul Islam, minister for industries and natural resources, declares that all key and heavy industries will be nationalised soon. However, the government has no plan to nationalise small and cottage industries. The objective of the government is to expand home, cottage and small industries at the village level, he adds.

The importance of the cottage industries, he says, has enhanced because hundreds of women who have become widows during the Liberation War can be absorbed in these industries. No new big industries will be set up where demands can be met by the products of cottage industries, he emphasises.

Sources: February 3, 1972 issues of Dainik Bangla, The Daily Ittefaq, The Azad, Morning News and The Bangladesh Observer.