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Location Bangladesh is located in South Asia and shares borders with India to the west, the north and the east. To the southeast lies Burma. The southern shores are washed by the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh occupies a fertile delta created by two of Asia's largest river systems, the Ganges and the Brahmiputra. Politics Bangladesh is one of the youngest nations in Asia. Until two and a half decades ago, it formed the eastern half of Pakistan; the western half lay over 2,000 km away, on the other side of India. In 1971, Pakistan's army attempted to subdue an East Pakistani movement for regional autonomy which led to a bloody civil war. India joined the war in early December of that year and, later that month, Bangladesh became an independent nation. A parliamentary democracy was established and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came to power. Mujib was assassinated in August 1975 during a military coup. Afterwards Bangladesh went through a turbulent period characterized by a series of military coups. The last military ruler Gen. Hussain Mohammad Ershad, ruled for nine years, eventually toppled by a civilian movement in December 1990. Elections were held in 1991 under a neutral government and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) became the country's first elected Prime Minister in 16 years. In the parliamentary election held in June 1996, the Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's daughter Sheikh Hasina, came to power. The Awami League won 51 percent of seats in parliament; trailing behind the Awami League were the BNP with nearly 36 per cent of the seats and Hussain Mohammad Ershand's Jatiyo Party with 10 per cent. The rest of the seats were won by other small parties and individual candidates. The Bangladeshi parliament has a single legislative chamber with 330 members. Three hundred members are directly elected on the basis of adult franchise while 30 women members are elected indirectly. Bangladesh has emerged as a leader of the movement of developing countries. The country maintains close ties with Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, which employ large numbers of Bangladeshi workers. Relations with India have improved considerably due to the pragmatic approach taken by the current government. More recently, an influx of Burmese Muslim refugees across the Southeastern border has created tensions with the Burmese authorities. T... ...1980). BRAC: Who Gets What and Why: Resources Allocation in a Bangladesh Village. (Dhaka, 1979). M. Cain, "Risk Insurance: Perspectives on Fertility and Agrarian Change in India and Bangladesh," Population and Development Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, September 1981, S. 435-474 Samiul Hasan et al., "Voluntary Organizations in Bangladesh: A Profile," Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1992. Harrison, Paul. Inside the Third World. London, England: Penguin Group. 1988. Ehrhardt, Roger. Canadian Development Assistance to Bangladesh. Ottawa, Canada: The North-South Institute. Published in 1983. â€Å"US Bangladesh Sign PL 480 Agreement†. US Department of State Dispatch. Mar23, 1992, Vol.3 Issue 12, p232, 1/3p. Online. EBSCOhost. â€Å"Grameen approach to development in Bangladesh: An Overview†. Contemporary South Asia, Jul96, Vol.5 Issue 2, p207, 8p. Online. EBSCOhost. â€Å"A tale of two sisters: Two Decades of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Bangladesh†. Contemporary South Asia, Jul96, Vol.5 Issue 2, p149, 24p. Online. EBSCOhost. â€Å"Bangladesh- General Information.† The World Factbook. World Wide Web. www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/.html