The 1990s (pronounced "nineteen-nineties", commonly shortened as the "'90s", pronounced "nineties") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on 1 January 1990, and ended on 31 December 1999. For Bangladesh, this decade was characterized by a transition to democracy, rapid urbanisation and globalization, and a struggle for free and fair elections. The newly earned democracy influenced the cultural activities in the decade.
Politics and national life
Transition to democracy The decade began with the country agitating against the rule of incumbent President Ershad. A wide umbrella of political parties united against Ershad. Ziaur Rahman's widow, Khaleda Zia, led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which allied with the Bangladesh Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's daughter Sheikh Hasina. Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and other Islamic parties and alliances joined the opposition ranks. They called for strikes and protests that paralysed the state and its economy. Although the parliament was dissolved, fresh elections were boycotted by the opposition, including Awami League and Jamaat. Students launched an intensifying opposition campaign, which ultimately forced Ershad to step down. On 6 December 1990, Ershad offered his resignation. On 27 February 1991, after two months of widespread civil unrest, an interim government headed by Acting President Chief Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed oversaw what most observers believed to be the nation's most free and fair elections to that date. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
First Khaleda administration, 1991–96 The centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party won a plurality of seats and formed a government with support from the Islamic party Jamaat-I-Islami, with Khaleda Zia, widow of Ziaur Rahman, obtaining the post of prime minister. Only four parties had more than 10 members elected to the 1991 Parliament: the BNP, led by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia; the AL, led by Sheikh Hasina; the Jamaat-I-Islami (JI), led by Ghulam Azam; and the Jatiya Party (JP), led by acting chairman Mizanur Rahman Choudhury while its founder, former President Ershad, served out a prison sentence on corruption charges. The electorate approved still more changes to the constitution, formally re-creating a parliamentary system and returning governing power to the office of the prime minister, as in Bangladesh's original 1972 constitution. In October 1991, members of Parliament elected a new head of state, President Abdur Rahman Biswas.
In March 1994, controversy over a parliamentary by-election, which the opposition claimed the government had rigged, led to an indefinite boycott of Parliament by the entire opposition. The opposition also began a program of repeated general strikes to press its demand that Khaleda Zia's government resign and a caretaker government supervise a general election. Efforts to mediate the dispute, under the auspices of the Commonwealth Secretariat, failed. After another attempt at a negotiated settlement failed narrowly in late December 1994, the opposition resigned en masse from Parliament. The opposition then continued a campaign of marches, demonstrations, and strikes in an effort to force the government to resign. The opposition, including the Bangladesh Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, pledged to boycott national elections scheduled for 15 February 1996.
In February, Khaleda Zia was re-elected by a landslide in voting boycotted and denounced as unfair by the three main opposition parties. In March 1996, following escalating political turmoil, the sitting Parliament enacted a constitutional amendment to allow a neutral caretaker government to assume power and conduct new parliamentary elections; former Chief Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman was named Chief Adviser (a position equivalent to Prime Minister) in the interim government. New parliamentary elections were held in June 1996, and the Awami League won a plurality and formed the government with support from the Jatiya Party led by deposed president Hussain Muhammad Ershad; party leader Sheikh Hasina became prime minister of Bangladesh.
First Hasina administration, 1996–2001
Sheikh Hasina formed what she called a "Government of National Consensus" in June 1996, which included one minister from the Jatiya Party and another from the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. The Jatiya Party never entered into a formal coalition arrangement, and party president Hussain Muhammad Ershad withdrew his support from the government in September 1997. Only three parties had more than 10 members elected to the 1996 Parliament: the Awami League, BNP, and Jatiya Party. Jatiya Party president, Ershad, was released from prison on bail in January 1997.
International and domestic election observers found the June 1996 election free and fair, and ultimately, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party decided to join the new Parliament. The BNP soon charged that police and Bangladesh Awami League activists were engaged in large-scale harassment and jailing of opposition activists. At the end of 1996, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party staged a parliamentary walkout over this and other grievances but returned in January 1997 under a four-point agreement with the ruling party. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party asserted that this agreement was never implemented and later staged another walkout in August 1997. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party returned to Parliament under another agreement in March 1998.
In June 1999, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other opposition parties again began to abstain from attending Parliament. Opposition parties staged an increasing number of nationwide general strikes, rising from six days of general strikes in 1997 to 27 days in 1999. A four-party opposition alliance formed at the beginning of 1999 announced that it would boycott parliamentary by-elections and local government elections unless the government took steps demanded by the opposition to ensure electoral fairness. The government did not take these steps, and the opposition subsequently boycotted all elections, including municipal council elections in February 1999, several parliamentary by-elections, and the Chittagong city corporation elections in January 2000.
Administrative division In 1990, Bangladesh was administratively divided into 4 divisions, namely Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi, which were further subdivided into a total of 64 districts (see List of districts of Bangladesh). The government of Begum Khaleda Zia chose to change the upazila system and set up instead democratically designed decentralised structures at the appropriate levels. In 1993, Barisal Division was split off from Khulna Division, and in 1995, Sylhet Division was split off from Chittagong Division. By the end of the decade, the number of divisions stood at 6.
Demographics Based on World Development Indicators published by the World Bank, the population of Bangladesh grew from 104 million at the beginning of the decade to 129 million by the end. This signifies an annual population growth rate of 2.2%. Population density increased from 796 to 991 per km2.
The urban population was 19.8% of the total at the beginning, which ended up at 23.2%. Dhaka, the largest city, with a population of 6.6 million, accounted for 31.5% of the total urban population by 1999. United Nations World Population Prospects show that the population growth rate was in a decreasing trend (from 2.5% per annum to 2.0%), primarily due to a reduction in the fertility rate (births per woman) from 4.5 to 3.3. Life expectancy at birth increased from 58.4 years to 64.7 years, with child (0–5) mortality reducing from 144 per 1,000 births to 92. The age dependency ratio (% of the working-age population) changed from 83.3% to 70.7% by the end of the decade.
Climate Temperature and precipitation
Compared to the prior decade, the average December temperature decreased by about 0.6 degrees, but moderate increases in other months offset the overall annual impact. Average rainfall decreased for April, May, and July, leading to an overall average annual rainfall decrease of about 70 mm.
Natural disasters
The severe cyclone of 1991 and the devastating floods of 1998 marks this decade as one of the worst hit by natural disasters after independence.
The 1991 Bangladesh cyclone was among the deadliest tropical cyclones on record. On the night of 29 April 1991, it struck the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 250 km/h (155 mph). The storm forced a 6-metre (20 ft) storm surge inland over a wide area, killing at least 138,866 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless. Later in the decade, in 1994, another cyclone with a velocity of per hour struck the coastal area of Cox's Bazar, causing extensive damage to the districts of Cox's Bazar and Bandarban. As a result of the early warning and subsequent evacuation of about 450,000 people, the loss of life was minimal. According to official estimates, 133 (including 84 refugees) died and 3,559 were injured.
From July to September 1998, Bangladesh suffered extensive flooding. Over 75% of the total area of the country, including half of Dhaka, was flooded. It was similar to the catastrophic flood of 1988 in terms of the extent of the flooding. 30 million people were made homeless, and the death toll reached over a thousand. The flooding caused contamination of crops and animals, and unclean water resulted in cholera and typhoid outbreaks. About 700,000 hectares of crops were destroyed,
Economy National income and balance of payment Bangladesh's GDP was US$42.4 billion in 1990, which grew to US$63.6 billion in 1999 (in 2010 constant dollar), signifying a 4.1% annual growth. The agricultural sector contributed to 32.8% of GDP in the beginning of the decade, which decreased to 23.8% by the end. During the same period, contribution from the industrial sector increased from 20.7% to 23.5%, and that of the service sector increased from 46.6% to 52.7%. Per capita GDP increased from US$399 to US$493 (in 2010 constant dollars).
According to World Development Indicators published by the World Bank, on a 2010 constant dollar basis, Bangladesh used to export US$1.3 billion (5.9% of GDP) worth of goods and services as of 1990, which grew at an annual average rate of 10.2% to US$3.5 billion (11.8% of GDP) in 1999. During the same time, the import of goods and services grew from US$3.1 billion (13.1% of GDP) to US$5.8 billion (16.6% of GDP). Over the decade, foreign direct investment and personal remittances receipt averaged 0.12% and 3.02% of GDP; while total reserves averaged 13.3% of external debt and 3.8 months's coverage of imports.
Gross National Income (at 2010 constant dollar) grew from US$43.3 billion to US$65.7 billion over the decade. At the beginning of this period External Debt stock (of which concessional debt was 90.6%) was 38.1% of gross national income (GNI) and external debt service burden was 2.3% of GNI. By the end of the decade, external debt stock (of which concessional debt now was 95.1%) stood at 31.1% of GNI and external debt service burden was 1.3% of the same. During the same period, military expenditure increased from 1.2% to 1.5% of GNI.
Agriculture