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Macroeconomic Development of Bangladesh and West Bengal

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Two Bengals

Abstract

Before India was partitioned in 1947, Bangladesh and West Bengal belonged to the same Bengal region. When they were divided, West Bengal was the more affluent of the two. East Bengal joined Pakistan as East Pakistan but then fought for its independence in 1971 to become an independent country. Since then, both the Bengals have advanced in their respective macro- and socioeconomic areas, such as agriculture, manufacturing, services, employment, and poverty reduction. Trends in advancement in these areas suggest that Bangladesh has accomplished more after 2000 due to political and economic policy variations. On the other hand, while West Bengal improved the manufacturing sector, it performed better in redistributing land and agriculture output. Overall, West Bengal appears to have performed better than Bangladesh in reducing poverty, while Bangladesh has done better with its external economy. This chapter has compared development in some macro- and socioeconomic areas in two Bengals over the years to get to where they are now.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The growth rate of GDP at constant prices (Source World Bank).

  2. 2.

    The public initiative of registering the names of sharecroppers in 1978 ensured the rights of bargadars on land for generations. The second and third amendments of the Land Reforms Act came into force in 1981 and 1986, respectively. In West Bengal, between 1980–1981 and 1990–1991, the landholding position of the scheduled groups—both in terms of area as well as number—was much better than any other state (Singh 2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of International Management, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu-Shi, Japan

    Munim Kumar Barai

  2. North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Gour Gobinda Goswami & M. Ismail Hossain

Authors
  1. Munim Kumar Barai
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  2. Gour Gobinda Goswami
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  3. M. Ismail Hossain
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Correspondence to Munim Kumar Barai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. International Management Institute, New Delhi, India

    Arindam Banik

  2. College of International Management, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu-shi, Oita, Japan

    Munim Kumar Barai

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Barai, M.K., Goswami, G.G., Hossain, M.I. (2023). Macroeconomic Development of Bangladesh and West Bengal. In: Banik, A., Barai, M.K. (eds) Two Bengals. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2185-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2185-0_2

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