ABSTRACT

The t h e s i s , 'Local Self-Government and Rural

Development 'iri. Bangladesh ( 1 9 7 1 - 8 8 ) ' , covers the different

aspects of local self-governing institutions, and the

evaluation of their role for the development of rural

Bangladesh. With that objective, the thesis has been

divided into six chapters.

F i r s t chapter, t h e I n t r o d u c t i o n , c o n t a i n s a

brief sketch of the socio-economic condition of

Bangladesh. Bangladesh being one o f the p o o r e s t countries

of the world has innumerable problems. These problems are

mainly rooted in rural areas. There is a clear disparity

in development between t h e rural and urban areas. An

a t t e m p t has been made t o h i g h l i g h t t h e major problems of

rural Bangladesh. The necessity of local self-governing

institutions for rural development has also been

emphasized in the chapter, as they are supposed t o play

most v i t a l role in t h i s regard.

Chapter 2 deals with the historical

background o f l o c a l s e l f - g o v e r n m e n t i n Bangladesh. T h i s is

necessary f o r paving the way f o r a systematic discussion

on the local self-governing institutions of the post-
liberation period under study (i.e., 1971-88). The pre-
independence period has been divided into two broad
sections. The former, section 2.1, covers the British rule
in undivided India and the later, section 2.2, deals with
the development of these institutions during Pakistan
period.

The British felt the need of establishing local

self-government with a view to perpetuating their rule. It
seems that for achieving that objective they decided to
delegate some powers to these institutions. In course of
time, during the last stage of British rule, these bodies
were made stronger with the introduction of a number of
democratic principles which were absent earlier. Different
tiers of local self-government in rural areas viz., Union
Board, Local Board and District Board were performing
minor development functions. The composition, powers and
functions of these bodies, have been thoroughly discussed
i n section 2.1.

In section 2.2, the discussion has been directed

to the local self-governing bodies during the Pakistan
period, i.e., from 1947 to 1971. This section has again
been d i v i d e d into two sub-sections. Sub-section 2.21

covers the period 1947 to 1958, i.e., upto the

p r o m u l g a t i o n of Martial Law. The f i r s t sub-section shows

that the local bodies were democratized with elected

representatives. But a f t e r the promulgation of Martial

Law, by General Ayub, in 1958, the whole process of

democratization of the local self-governing bodies

r e c e i v e d a severe s e t - b a c k and t h a t continued t i l l 1971,

i.e., upto the e s t a b l i s h m e n t of Bangladesh. The whole

period i . e . , 1 9 5 8 - 1 9 7 1 , has been p l a c e d u n d e r t h e sub-

section 2.22. The system of Basic Democracies was

introduced during that period with a foui—tier pattern of

local self-government for rural areas, viz., Divisional

Council, District Council, Thana Council and Union

C o u n c i l . During t h i s p e r i o d t h e ascendancy of bureaucracy

over democracy i.e., over the elected representatives of

l o c a l s e l f - g o v e r n i n g i n s t i t u t i o n s was d i s t i n c t .

Chapter 3 deals with the various aspects of

local self-government for rural areas d u r i n g the post-

independence e r a , specially 1971-88, and t h i s is one of

the main o b j e c t i v e s of the t h e s i s . This chapter contains

four sections. To focus t h e changes in d i f f e r e n t aspects

of rural local self-government from t i m e to time due to

promulgation of certain acts and ordinances, these

sections have again been d i v i d e d into several phase-wise

sub-sections.

Section 3.1 is concerned with the Union

Parishad. Taking i n t o c o n s i d e r a t i o n t h e changes brought in

t h e c o m p o s i t i o n , powers and f u n c t i o n s o f Union Parishad in

d i f f e r e n t phases d u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d t h i s s e c t i o n has been

f a s h i o n e d i n t o t h r e e s u b - s e c t i o n s . S u b - s e c t i o n 3.11 (Phase

I) covers the p e r i o d of 1971-76. Immediately after the

independence of Bangladesh all the local self-governing

institutions existing during Pakistan period were

abolished. The n o t i c e a b l e development in this phase was

the promulgation of the Bangladesh Local Government

(Union Parishad and Paurasabha) Order, 1973, under which

Union Parishad ^as r e - c o n s t i t u t e d . The second phase, i.e.,

1976-83, has been d i s c u s s e d in the sub-section 3.12.

Declaration of the Local Government Ordinance, 1976 i s a

significant development in the history of local self-

governing institutions because through this a number of

changes were made i n t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n and f u n c t i o n s of

Union Parishad. The t h i r d and l a s t phase, t h e p e r i o d 1983-

88, i s placed i n t h e s u b - s e c t i o n 3 . 1 3 . During t h i s p e r i o d ,

the Local Government (Union Parishad) Ordinance, 1983 was

t h e Local Government (Union Parishad) Ordinance, 1983 was

p r o m u l g a t e d . The changes c r o p p e d up i n t h a t Ordinance,

were on t h e t e n u r e , category of membership and functions

o f Union Parishad.

S e c t i o n 3.2 deals w i t h t h e l o c a l self-government

a t the thana/upazi la l e v e l . T h i s s e c t i o n , l i k e the s e c t i o n

3.1, has been d i v i d e d into three sub-sections. The phase

I, i.e., 1971-76, i s d e a l t w i t h the s u b - s e c t i o n 3.21. In

sub-section 3.22, the phase II, i.e., 1976-82, has been

d i s c u s s e d . Under t h e Local Government Ordinance, 1976, the

erstwhile Thana C o u n c i l was renamed as Thana Parishad.

Sub-section 3.23 e l a b o r a t e s t h e phase I I I i.e., 1982-88.

T h i s phase i s v e r y remarkable in the history of local

self-government in Bangladesh as the epoch-making

d e c e n t r a l i z a t i o n - s c h e m e a t t h e thana l e v e l was i n t r o d u c e d ,

making thana t h e f o c a l p o i n t o f r u r a l a d m i n i s t r a t i o n and

development. I n i t i a l l y , the thanas b r o u g h t under t h a t

scheme were known as upgraded thanas which were later

renamed as upazi las. And i n d i f f e r e n t phases, all the

thanas of Bangladesh were u p g r a d e d into upazi 1 as. The

local self-government u n i t at t h i s level known as Upazi la

Parishad, i s t h e most s i g n i f i c a n t tier among t h e three

tier l o c a l s e l f - g o v e r n i n g bodies i n Bangladesh.

 Section 3.3 is devoted to the local self-

governing body which e x i s t s a t t h e apex o f t h e t h r e e tier

system o f local self-government i.e., at the district

level. This section has two sub-sections, and their

period-wise divisions are in the same o r d e r . Phase I

(1971-76) i s discussed i n the sub-section 3.31 and Phase

II (1976-88) in 3.32. This d i v i s i o n has been made on t h e

basis of the promulgation of two v i t a l a c t and o r d i n a n c e

related to Zila Parishad viz., the Local Government

Ordinance, 1976 and t h e Local Government (Zila Parishad)

Act, 1988.

The l a s t s e c t i o n o f t h e T h i r d Chapter, section

3.4 deals with the local self-government unit at the

village level. Gram Sarkar, which lasted only for two

years.

In Chapter 4, an a t t e m p t has b e e n made to

e v a l u a t e t h e r o l e of l o c a l s e l f - g o v e r n i n g i n s t i t u t i o n s for

the r u r a l development of Bangladesh and t h i s is another

main o b j e c t i v e o f t h e t h e s i s .

The r o l e o f Zila and U n i o n Pari shads has not

been d i s c u s s e d i n d e t a i l s as a f t e r the introduction of

upazila system, the role of these two bodies in

development has g r e a t l y been reduced and Upazila Parishad

has become t h e f o c a l point of rural development. This

chapter c o n t a i n s two s e c t i o n s . I n s e c t i o n 4 . 1 , an emphasis

has been given to evaluate how f a r the Upazila Parishad

have succeeded t o b r i n g any w o r t h - w h i l e development in

some key-sectors like education, agriculture,

communication, h e a l t h , small and c o t t a g e i n d u s t r i e s etc.

In order to have a concrete picture of

development, three upazilas from three divisions of the

country have been s e l e c t e d as t h e areas under study. It

has been o b s e r v e d that some d e v e l o p m e n t s have been

r e s u l t e d f r o m t h e new system i n d i f f e r e n t sectors, but

these are not upto t h e d e s i r e d e x t e n t .

In section 4.2, effectiveness of upazila

mechanism has been evaluated. This section has been

divided into four sub-sections.

In sub-section 4 . 2 1 , the close link between

p l a n n i n g and development has been d i s c u s s e d . In addition,

the necessity of local level planning for area-wise

development has been h i g h l i g h t e d .

 Sub-section 4.22 deals with the upazila level

planning. One o f t h e main o b j e c t i v e s of the creation of

upazila system is to introduce local level planning for

r u r a l development and t o ensure t h e p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f rural

people in pianning-mechanism. It is found from the

guidelines of National Planning Commission and other

government documents and i n s t r u c t i o n s t h a t ample scope o f

local level p l a n n i n g has been c r e a t e d w i t h administrative

d e c e n t r a l i z a t i o n scheme.

I n s u b - s e c t i o n 4.23 on the basis of the field-

study it has been f o u n d that systematic and proper

planning at upazila level is still a far cry. And in

absence o f that, development in rural areas is greatly

hampered.

A critical assessment on upazila planning

mechanism and development has been made in sub-section

4 . 2 4 . A d i s c u s s i o n about proper m o n i t o r i n g and evaluation

which is essential for successful implementation of

upazila p l a n n i n g has occupied some space a t t h e end of the

section.
 A comparative study between the rural local
self-governments between Bangladesh and West Bengal
(India) has been made in Chapter 5. In West Bengal, like
Bangladesh, there exists a three-tier system of local
self-government, viz., Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti

and Zila Parishad, which as a whole, is known as

Panchayat! Raj. This system in West Bengal, as it is
revealed from an empirical study, is functioning more
effectively than the local self-governing institutions of
Bangladesh. This system has contributed a lot to the rural
development of West Bengal and, by now, it is fairly deep-
rooted one. Perhaps, such a successful system of rural
local self-government is not available even in any other
state of India,

Sixth and last Chapter is the conclusion of the

thesis. Here the observations of the whole study have been
summed up.