Economics
The union with West-Pakistan had been an unhappy one for East Pakistan, both politically and economically. The central government left hardly any room for independent action by the local East-Pakistan government and there was a considerable outflow of resources from East to West, though at a reduced rate at the end of the 1960s.
The East did not receive a fair share of the foreign aid Pakistan received. Though from an economic point of view it might have been justified to concentrate resources on West-Pakistan because of its better economic prospects, in terms of equitable development and polical wisdom it certainly was not. To many people in East-Pakistan it felt as a time of exploitation by West-Pakistan.
At the beginning of the 1950s regional incomes in the West were about 20% higher than in the East, increasing to more than 30% ten years later. At the end of the 1960s per capita income in the West was estimated at twice that of the East.
At independence Bangladesh was an overwhelmingly agricultural society with rice as the main foodcrop and jute the most important cash crop. The industrial base of the country was very poor. The contribution of agriculture to GDP was almost 60% while that of large and medium industry was around 4%.
In the rural economy land was the most important earning asset but due to the high population density it was also extremely scarce. In 1960 35% of rural households were classified as functionally landless (owning less than 0.5 acres), increasing to more than 45% in 1970. Another 30% were classified as marginal landowners (owning 0.5 - 2.5 acres). Therefore, the majority of rural households depended for their subsistence on various other sources of income, agricultural as well as non-agricultural. Among agriculture were renting in land through tenancy arrangements, as agricultural labourers, homestead vegetable gardening, livestock keeping and fishing.
Outside agriculture cottage industries were important, for example handloom weaving but also beedi making (traditional cigarettes). In the 1970’s there were an estimated 100,000 handloom enterprises with 350,000 full and parttime workers.
Sources and Read More:
van Schendel, Willem (2020). Second Edition as e-book: A History of Bangladesh.
To download the first edition of the book, go to A History of Bangladesh First Edition
Britannica: Bangladesh, The Pakistani-period
