Information of Bangladesh

Introduction
Official Name	The People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Government	Parliamentary form of Government,headed by the Prime Minister
Background	Bangladesh emerged as an independent country in 1971 through the nine month long liberation war against the occupation forces of Pakistan. The history and culture of the country is as old as it is eventful.
Administrative Information
Capital	Dhaka, Area 1464 sq. km
Standard Time	GMT+6 hours
Administrative Units	Division:6; Zila:64; Thana:507; Union:4484; Village:87319
Major Cities	Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barisal, Mymensing & Comilla
Geograhical Information
Location	South Asia
Geographic Coordinates	Between 20°34′ and 26°38′ North Latitude and 88°01′ and 92°41′ East Longitude
Area/Land	Total: 147,570 square km (56,977 Sq. miles) Land: 119,624 sq km Forest Area: 21,912.77 sq km River: 22,155 km
Borders	India on the west, the north & the north-east and Myanmar on the south-east and the Bay of Bengal on the south
Land Boundaries	Total: 4,246 km Border Countries: Myanmar 193 km, India 4,053 km
Terrain	Mostly flat alluvial fertile plain; hilly in southeast
Elevation Extremes	Lowest Point: Indian Ocean 0 m Highest Point: Keokradong 1,230 m
Geographical Information
Coastline/Maritime Claims				580 km Territorial sea: 12 nm Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Climate				Tropical; mild winter (October to March), average temp (Max 29° C and Min 11° C); hot, humid summer (March to June), Average Summer temp ( Max 40° C and Min 21° C); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October). Other seasons: Autumn, Late Autumn & Spring
Annual rainfall				Varies from 160 cm to 400 cm at different areas. Average 199.73 cm
Humidity				Highest 99 % during peak summer in July, Lowest 36% during winter in Dec-Jan
Natural Resources				Natural Gas, Arable Land, Timber, Coal
Natural Hazards				Droughts, Cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season
Environment International Agreements				Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
People
Population				144,319,628 (July 2005 est.)
Age Structure				0-14 years: 33.1% (male 24,590,207/female 23,162,420) 15-64 years: 63.5% (male 46,764,824/female 44,868,733) 65 years and over: 3.4% (male 2,650,683/female 2,282,761) (2005 est.)
Population Growth Rate				1.43% (2003)
Nationality				Bangladeshi
Ethnic Groups				Bengali 98%; tribal groups and non-Bengali Muslims are 2% (1998)
Religion				Muslim 83%, Hindu 16% and other 1% (1998)
Official Languages		Bangla (also known as Bengali), English
Literacy		62.66%
Labor Force		Civilian Labor force: 44.3 million, (male: 34.5 million, female: 9.8 million) Sectoral distribution of Labor force: Agriculture 51.69%, Industry 13.56%, Others 34.75% (Labor Force Survey 1999/2000)Extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers’ remittances estimated at $4.8 billion in 2005-06
HIV/AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate		Less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
Transportation
Airports		Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Rajshahi, Iswardi, Cox’s Bazar, Syedpur and Barisal
International Airports		Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong
Seaports		Chittagong and Mongla
Railways		Total: 2,855 km Broad gauge: 884 km 1.676-m gauge Narrow gauge: 1,822 km 1.000-m gauge (2004)
Roadways		Total: 239,226 km Paved: 22,726 km Unpaved: 216,500 km (2003)
Waterways		8,372 km (includes 2,575 km main cargo routes, 2004)
Economy
GDP/rate of growth			US$ 62.08 billion /6.71% (2005-06)
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)			US$ 299.9 billion (2005 est.)
GDP per capita (Purchasing Power Parity)			US$ 2100 (2005 est.)
Per Capita GDP/GNI			US$456 / US$482 (2005-06)
Sectoral share of GDP			US$456 / US$482 (2005-06)Agriculture: 21.77%, Industry: 29.01%, Service: 49.22%
Annual Export/Import			US$ 10.5 billion (2005-06) / US$ 10.6 billion (July- March 2005-06)
Major exports			Readymade garments, frozen foods (shrimps), leather, leather products, jute, jute products, tea, ceramic, textile fabrics, home textile, chemical product, light engineering products including bi-cycle
Major Exporting Country			US 26.3%, Germany 15.7%, UK 12.5%, France 8.1%, Italy 4.7% (2004-05)
Major imports			Oil, edible oil, petroleum product, wheat, seeds, fertilizer, yarn, capital goods, machinery, power generating machinery, scientific & medical equipment, iron & steel, motor vehicles, raw cotton, chemicals
Major Importing Country			India 17.8%, China 14.3%, Singapore 7.8%, Japan 4.8%, Hong Kong 4.7%, Kuwait 4.6% (2004-05)
Major trading partners			USA, EU countries, China, India, Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and UAE
Banking hour			Sunday- Thursday (9:00 am – 3:00 pm)
Currency (code)			taka (BDT)
Exchange rate			US$ 1.00= Tk. 67.00 (Buying), Tk. 67.70 (Selling) Euro 1.00=Tk. 85.35 (Buying), Tk. 86.26 (Selling)(October 3, 2006)
Fiscal year			1 July – 30 June
Agriculture – products			Rice, Jute, Tea, Wheat, Sugarcane, Potatoes, Tobacco, Pulses, Oilseeds, Spices, Fruit; Beef, Milk, Poultry and Others.
Industries			Cotton Textiles, Jute, Garments, Tea processing, Paper Newsprint, Cement, Chemical Fertilizer, Light Engineering, Sugar
Industrial production growth rate			10.45% (2005-06 est.)
Natural gas – proved reserves			150.3 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

People's Republic of Bangladesh

Flag of Bangladesh

Background:
Bangladesh came into existence in 1971 when bangali East Pakistan seceded from its union with West Pakistan. About a third of this extremely poor country annually floods during the monsoon rainy season, hampering economic development.
(Source : CIA - The World Factbook)

Most Powerful Medicinal Plants

Marijuana

Through marijuana to be able to catnip, you will find many incredibly typical herbs, flowers, berries as well as vegetation that will aid many critical healing as well as well-being reasons that could big surprise an individual: anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, insect repellent, antiseptic, expectorant, antibacterial, detoxification, fever reduction, antihistamine and also pain relief. Allow me to share 20 powerful health care vegetation you’re prone to discover in the actual crazy: or perhaps someone’s backyard * that will help along with minimal injuries, scrapes, bites as well as pains. Although marijuana continues to be against the law in America, it can be authorized within 12 claims pertaining to healing functions, of course, if a clear case of killer ivy inside the woodlands isn’t the therapeutic objective, precisely what is? Marijuana had been *mostly* legitimate right up until1970 in the event it grew to be considered a tough substance. No-one looked at becoming a risky or even illicit medicine before the 20th century; actually, hemp ended up being George Washington’s principal harvest and assigns Jefferson’s extra harvest. The particular Commitment of Freedom can be composed about it; the particular Gutenberg Bible had been published on hemp, way too. There’s truly an Eco sizing in order to legalizing marijuana : hemp is really an exceptional along with replenish able place, supplying many meals as well as a product or service uses that will meet or exceed organic cotton as well as plastic-type material. However health improvements are very well noted, via depression as well as stress and anxiety reduction to be able to decreased blood pressure, pain alleviation as well as glaucoma treatment. It isn't enslaving, will not wipe out minds and isn't a new “gateway” medicine * in reality, any time container is much more offered, research has revealed that this use of challenging medications just like strong drugs and also cocaine in fact reduces. The conclusion about hikers: once your knee will be shattered coming from a misjudged boulder moving test (pain) along with a keep provides swallowed your current buddy (depression) and also you’re misplaced as you neglected your compass (dumbass), consult the real cannabis.

Jamaat calls hartal for tomorrow

Jamaat-e-Islami features referred to as a national dawn-to-dusk hartal on Wednesday protesting the particular future consensus of their chief Abdul Quader Mollah in the conflict criminal offenses scenario.

In addition, it vulnerable to impose any non-stop hartal if your consensus thanks Wednesday is the opposite of your asst admin standard from the social gathering.

Jamaat in the website article introduced the real system Wednesday day hrs after the Global Offenses Tribunal preset Wednesday with regard to supplying the real judgment.

The particular Jamaat helper assistant common has been indicted in May well 28 this past year along with six to eight distinct expenses with regard to his / her supposed effort within killings and size murders through the Freedom Battle inside 1971.

It's going to be the 2nd consensus in the Global Offences Tribunals.The identical tribunal provided its initial consensus in opposition to removed Jamaat chief Abul Kalam Azad often known as Bachchu Razakar in The month of january 21.

Mollah, 65, is just one of seven Jamaat along with BNP frontrunners experiencing offences versus people fees in the a pair of tribunals produced to test battle offences circumstances.

Are mainly the particular offences in opposition to the human race fees presented in opposition to Mollah:

Upon Apr 5, 1971, about Mollah's directions, among his / her helps called Akhter killed Pallab, trainees involving Bangla School as well as an planner in the Freedom Battle.

About Drive 27, 1971, Mollah with his fantastic helps killed pro-liberation poet Meherun Nesa, your ex mom and 2 bros from their house with Mirpur-6 involving Dhaka.

In Drive 29, 1971, Mollah, associated with Al-Badr, Razakars along with non-Bangla communicating Bihari men, arrested writer Khondoker Abu Taleb along with introduced him or her to some place called Mirpur Jallad Khana Pump House along with pussy his or her tonsils.

In Nov 25, 1971, the ordered assault as well as indiscriminate firing through Mollah with his fantastic cohorts wiped out a huge choice of disarmed men and women associated with Khanbari along with Ghatar Char villages inside Keraniganj.

In 04 24, 1971, Mollah brought Pakistan armed service guys and close to 60 non-Bangla communicating Biharis straight into a panic attack about disarmed men and women associated with Alubdi small town within Mirpur which remaining 344 individuals wiped out.

About the nighttime associated with Drive 26, 1971, beneath the control involving Mollah, several Biharis as well as Pakistani troops wiped out 1 Hazrat Ali as well as a few people in their family members within Mirpur.

Garden ants

 Try to find

Tiny hemorrhoids involving globe close to divots within garden soil, grass, pathways, at the bottom of outside surfaces. Older people might be in the home about clean along with keeping meals, as well as on sap-sucking pest-infested plant life. Big colonies about traveling helpless ants can be found in overdue summer time.

Crops influenced

• Garden bugs hardly ever damage vegetation. Nevertheless, they will go after fizzy food items, slimy seed, honeydew via aphid-infected plant life, as well as other little pests. Lots of world throughout the home access is usually a pain inside yard in which these people hinder mowing and trimming, and so they could also in part hide low-growing crops.



Regarding Back garden helpless ants



• There tend to be a pair of principal varieties of back garden bugs, the particular reddish insect Myrmica rubra as well as the dark ish, Lassus niger.

• Queen bugs take flight within through adjoining landscapes constantly however are murdered by simply helpless ants coming from present nests. Eliminating the king and your ex home basically tends to make place for an extra. For that reason it is advisable to give attention to managing the few nests which might be leading to genuine troubles.

• Adult staff member helpless ants are a woman, wingless, and all around 5mm in size.

• Queens tend to be drastically extended as well as more overweight.

• Larvae tend to be whitened legless grubs about 5mm long.

• Each community may vary in dimensions via no more than Five hundred website visitors to multitudes.

• After over-wintering, women come out throughout springtime and place ova.

• The very first family will probably be raised on from the king in 3 in order for one month before pupating inside dirt.

• Adult employees come out soon after a fortnight to take care of the real home along with supply your full as well as future caterpillar.

• When older people look for an eating place that they leave a new walk associated with chemical substances called pheromones time for your colony for some people to adhere to. 

Annona cherimola

Annona cherimola

Occasionally named custard apple Mackintosh, the real cherimoya (Annona cherimola) appears to be an incredibly huge jade massage bed wood spool, and its particular find arises from the original Southern U . s ., Inchon (Quecha) terminology wherever this started. Developed for years and years inside Core as well as South America, your cherimoya is increasing within Spain, Chile, New Zealand along with Australia. As a result of cherimoya’s level of responsiveness to be able to cold or heat two extremes, it takes time-consuming and complex pollinating tactics, and should end up being collected yourself as it bruises quickly. Any time fresh along with leading, this kind of special, reduced chemical p, soft sleek berry offers tastes referring to pear, apple, blueberry, pawpaw as well as vanilla flavoring custard.

Buddha’s Hand

Therapeutic Title: Fructus Citri Sarcodactylis

Organic Identify: Citrus medica L. var. Sarcodactylis Swingle

Typical Brand: (Ch: Fo Shou, Ja: bushukan), Finger citron, Buddha Hand citron

Make use: within Homeopathy, as being a sacrificial providing, within tangy special sweets, along with common as a pretty bonsai tree.

In Vietnam we all referred to it as “Phat Thu” which usually practically converted to “Buddha’s Hand”. However it seems a lot more like a new yellow-colored octopus together with several yellowish tentacles, a treadmill from the number of seashore cucumbers when you carry it by simply the originate.

The particular Shrub

The particular citron shrub can be small , shrubby, not often older in which 5 foot; it's limbs have tiny rised thorns. It is rather ice along with chilly vulnerable. The real special foliage is round-tipped, square healthy as well as a little serrate in the perimeter. Your small foliage is purple, but when they're adult, these people sports activities your sturdy sparkly environmentally friendly shade of any kind of acid sapling just like fruit, grapefruit, lemon… Its origins is actually unfamiliar but it's within large measure in many The far east parts just like Wilson, inside the western Yunnan province, and Jinhua, within the Zhejiang province south of Shanghai. The real sapling ended up being brought in and became simply by Asian folks The Hawaiian islands, along with California. Now it's far more generally produced in many property backyards and WATS in the Vietnamese neighborhood associated with The southern area of California, Colorado, as well as Southeast says outlined the particular Gulf of Mexico.

The particular blossoms as well as youthful brand-new foliage are tinged greatly along with violet, along with the child like odd-shaped (not even split into “fingers”) many fruits can also be purple, from time to time almost dark brown; they flip natural just like a younger grapefruit; and game tone involving discolored and fruit since they older : offering your shrubby sapling the multicolored along with nice appear specifically in overdue tumble along with first winter in the event the fresh fruits are in distinct phases of maturing. The real plants start with a suggestion of violet and then grow to be bright and they are quite perfumed : manifestation of acid, much like a variety of grapefruit as well as lime green odor. The real hand citron develops nicely in high altitude climates yet milder local weather; it needs practically distinctive frost-free place. The particular trees and shrubs blossom 2-3 periods 12 months with increased effective flowering during the early drop.

‘Textbook Festival Day’ begins

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid opened the much-awaited Textbook Festival Day by handing over books to the students of Residential Model School and College in the capital Tuesday morning.
Addressing the students, Nahid said the government has been distributing free textbooks to both primary and secondary students since 2010 to solve the textbook crisis.
In 2010, around 19 crore textbooks were distributed to students of primary and secondary levels.
A total of 26,17,74,606 free textbooks would be distributed this year, the minister added.
“That (the increasing number of distributed books) means the enrolment of students is increasing gradually,” an optimistic minister said.
He urged the students to concentrate on their studies to get the best possible education and to take the country to its desired goal.
The textbooks distribution is going on simultaneously across the country from today and it will continue for seven days.
On Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the distribution by giving textbooks to students of different classes at Gono Bhaban in the capital.
The government decided on free distribution in 2009 against a backdrop of textbook crisis. It has been distributing books to both primary and secondary students at the very beginning of academic sessions since 2010.
Previously, only primary students were provided with free textbooks.
All the textbooks of primary and secondary grades will also be available on the government's e-books website (www.ebook.gov.bd) and that of the NCTB (www.nctb.gov.bd).

60 killed in Ivory Coast Stampede

About 60 people were crushed to death in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan overnight after a New Year's Eve fireworks display, an emergency official and state radio said on Tuesday.
"There are around 60 dead, and about 200 injured, this is a provisional estimate," a rescue official told Reuters, asking not to be named.
He said the incident happened near Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium where a crowd had gathered to watch fireworks.
A Reuters correspondent said there were blood stains and abandoned shoes outside the stadium Tuesday morning, and government officials and rescue and security forces were still there.
"My two children came here yesterday. I told them not to come but they didn't listen. They came when I was sleeping. What will I do?" said Assetou Toure, a cleaner. She said she did not know if her children survived.

35 officials of Sonali, other business entities sued

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday filed 26 cases against 35 top officials of Sonali Bank and five business entities for misappropriating more than Tk 345 crore of depositors' money.
The names of Hall-Mark Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud and General Manager Tushar Ahmed were also included in the cases on charge of abetting the five companies in embezzling the amount.
ACC Deputy Director Mir Mohammad Zainul Abedin Shebly filed the cases with Ramna Police Station under anti-money laundering and corruption prevention acts, ACC sources said.
The five firms and Hall-Mark Group swindled a total of Tk 3,547 crore from Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch with the help of some bank officials using forged documents between October last year and May this year.
Of the amount, Hall-Mark took Tk 2,686 crore showing fake documents.
Of the five firms, T and Brothers swindled Tk 317.52 crore, Paragon Knit Composite Ltd and its sister concern Tk 13.58 crore, DN Sports and its sister concern Tk 2.81 crore, Nakshi Knit and Composite Ltd and its sister concerns Tk 10.81 crore and Khanjahan Ali Sweater Ltd Tk 1.14 crore.
In May, a Bangladesh Bank probe revealed serious irregularities at Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch in sanctioning and disbursing loans of Tk 3,547 crore to the five firms and Hall-Mark.
On October 4, the ACC filed 11 cases against 27 top officials of Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark for misappropriating over Tk 1,568 crore [funded portion of Tk 2,686 crore].
On August 30, Sonali Bank suspended 17 of its officials over the fraud.

Stabber quizzed

Detectives investigating the gruesome murder of Bishwajit Das yesterday began quizzing six of the 10 arrestees in the murder case, now on remand, to ascertain if the murder was pre-planned and whether they were instigated by others.
A team from the Detective Branch of Police first interrogated Rafiqul Islam Shakil, known as a Chhatra League cadre, who hacked Bishwajit with a machete while the other assailants beat the poor tailor with sticks and iron rods.
Earlier yesterday, a Dhaka court remanded Shakil for eight days.
“We asked him [Shakil] why he and the others killed him [Bishwajit] and if it was a planned murder or not,” investigation officer (IO) of the case Tajul Islam told this correspondent last night.
So far 10 people have been arrested in the case, and with the remand of Shakil, the number of those remanded rose to six, the IO said.
A DB team led by Tajul yesterday morning produced Shakil before a metropolitan magistrate's court, seeking a 10-day remand, and the court granted an eight-day remand.
On Saturday, a Dhaka court remanded for eight days two other accused in the case -- Saiful Islam and Rasheduzzaman Shaon -- arrested on the previous day.
Three of the seven people held earlier for the murder were also remanded for eight days. They are Mahfuzur Rahman Nahid, HM Kibria and Mohammad Kayyum Miah.
In his forwarding report to the court yesterday, Tajul, who is an inspector of Bomb Disposal Unit of the DB, said Shakil is the prime accused in the case as they identified him from photos and video footages of the murder. Shakil was seen hacking Bishwajit with a machete.
Talking to this correspondent, the IO said all the six now on remand confessed their involvement in the murder but it was yet to be ascertained if they were Chhatra League activists.
“We are hopeful of unearthing everything concerning the murder soon,” he added.
Bishwajit, 24, was beaten and hacked to death by activists of the pro-Awami League student body Chhatra League at Johnson Road in Old Dhaka during the opposition-called December 9 blockade.
Detectives arrested Shakil, a second-year student of Islamic history at Jagannath University, at a relative's house in Barguna through tracking his mobile phone calls early Saturday. Later at night, they also recovered the machete from a shop on the JnU campus.

Daylight savings tied to bump in heart attack rates

Setting the clock ahead for daylight savings time may set the scene for a small increase in heart attacks the next day, according to a US study - which suggests that sleep deprivation may be to blame.
Researchers at two hospitals in the US state of Michigan, whose findings appeared in the American Journal of Cardiology, reviewed six years of records and found that they treated an average of 23 heart attacks on the Sunday when the United States switched to daylight savings time. That compared to 13 on a typical Sunday.
"Nowadays, people are looking for how they can reduce their risk of heart disease and other ailments," said Monica Jiddou, the study's lead author and a cardiologist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.
"Sleep is something we can potentially control. There are plenty of studies that show sleep can affect a person's health."
A 2008 Swedish report, for instance, found that the chance of a heart attack increased in the first three weekdays after the switch to daylight savings time, and decreased the Monday after the clocks returned to standard time in the autumn.
Jiddou told Reuters Health that her team wanted to see if their respective hospitals experienced the same increase and decrease in heart attacks seen in the Swedish study.
For the new study, she and her colleagues reviewed records for the 328 patients who were diagnosed with a heart attack during the week after a time change between 2006 and 2012, and for the 607 heart attack patients who were treated two weeks before and after the time shifts.
They found that except for the small increase on the Sunday that daylight savings time kicked in, there were no significant differences in heart attack rates in the first week after the spring clock change or in the fall, when people set clocks back.
The authors note, however, that the small trends they observed suggest shifts to and from daylight savings time may be linked with small increases in heart attacks in the spring, and small decreases in the fall.
They speculate that sleep deprivation resulting from the time changes could raise levels of stress hormones and inflammatory chemicals just enough to trigger a heart attack, especially in those already at high risk.
Though the slight increase in heart attacks in the days following time shifts were so small they could have been due to chance, Jiddou told Reuters Health that she believes the problem was the size of the study population.
"The numbers weren't necessarily striking, but the trends make you stop and think," she said.
But Steven Nissen, a cardiologist who is chair of the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, said that people should be carefully interpreting the findings.
"We haven't generally thought that missing an hour of sleep causes heart attacks. This may or may not hold up," Nissen said.
He added that while the study looks at a good question and he applauds the researchers' efforts, but stressed the limitations of the results and noted that the size of the effect is not huge.

Vow to complete war trial

Celebrating the 41st anniversary of victory in the Liberation War, people from all strata yesterday called for immediate completion of war crimes trial.
They also vowed to resist the fundamentalist and militant forces to establish a secular and prosperous Bangladesh.
The nation is bearing the stigma of war crimes since its birth in 1971. Initiative has been taken to try the war criminals, and the country is now waiting for the end of the trial to get rid of the burden of stigma.
"The last wish of my life is to see the execution of death sentences to war criminals. If the wish is fulfilled, my soul will rest in peace after my death," said Jahangir Alam, a freedom fighter.
Alam was observing the Victory Day celebration programme at the Dhaka University playground yesterday.
This was the wish not only of Alam, rather it appeared that the same were the wishes of thousands of people, who called for hastening the war crimes trial and upholding the spirit of independence.
"Like that of 1971, the whole nation will have to remain united against communalism, fundamentalism and militancy--this should be our victory day pledge," said Kajal Abdullah, a student of Dhaka University.
The nation yesterday celebrated the day saluting the valiant sons and daughters of the soil, who made their supreme sacrifices for the birth of Bangladesh.
On this day in 1971, Pakistani occupation forces chief general AAK Niazi along with 93,000 troops surrendered to the joint forces of Mukti Bahini and Mitra Bahini in Dhaka.
Bangladesh proclaimed its independence on March 26, 1971 after 23 years of struggle for self-determination, bringing down the erstwhile West Pakistani armed forces' genocidal wrath on its people the night before.
In a heinous genocide, the Pakistan army and their local collaborators -- Razakars, Al-Badrs and Al-Shams -- launched a barbarous crackdown on the innocent people of Bangladesh at midnight past March 25, 1971.
The nation, under the paramount leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, finally clinched independence on December 16 after the nine-month war.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina placed wreaths at the National Memorial in Savar on the outskirts of the capital at dawn.
Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia, different political, social and cultural organisations, senior government officials also gathered at the memorial to pay tribute to the martyrs.
Enthusiastic with the spirit of independence, people of all walks across the country rushed to the memorial of the martyrs to pay tributes to the war heroes.
Hasina also placed a wreath at the portrait of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangabandhu Bhaban in the city's Dhanmondi before attending the Victory Day parade at 10:30am.
Later, Hasina took salute from the armed forces at the parade programme at the National Parade Square. President Zillur Rahman could not attend the programme due to illness.
The day was a public holiday. The national flag was hoisted atop all government, semi-government and other important establishments. The day was heralded by a 31-gun salute at dawn.
Bangladesh missions abroad also celebrated the day. Special prayers were offered in the mosques, temples and churches across the country.
Parts of the capital wore a festive look on the day. Many buildings were illuminated, while vehicle owners also sported the flag on their automobiles.
Streets had been swarmed with enthusiastic people carrying banners of different political, social, cultural and professional organisations, and singing patriotic songs.
Many were seen draped in green and red clothes matched to the national flag.
After placing wreaths at the National Memorial in Savar, LGRD Minister and Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said they hoped to end the war crimes trial and implement some verdicts before the next Victory Day.
To mark the day, newspapers published special supplements, television channels broadcast talk shows, cultural programmes and dramas.
Different political, social and cultural organisations organised elaborate programmes including discussions, rally, procession, photo exhibition, painting competition.

Sugar 'comforts babies during immunisations'

It appears that sugar really may help the medicine go down - studies suggest a few drops can comfort babies who are having their jabs.
The Cochrane team reviewed 14 studies involving more than 1,500 infants going for routine childhood immunisations or a heel-prick blood test.
Babies given a sugary solution to suck as they were about to be injected cried far less than those given water.
While sugar may pacify, it is unclear if it also relieves pain.
Experts say more research is needed to explore this.
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
A small study published a couple of years ago in The Lancet medical journal looked at the responses of 44 infants given either sugar or water as they had a heel-prick blood test.
The sugar did not appear to make a difference to pain - all babies similarly grimaced and had comparable electrical activity measured with EEG readings in areas of the brain that process pain.
The lead researcher in the Cochrane review, Dr Manal Kassab of the Jordan University of Science and Technology in Irib, Jordan, said: "Giving babies something sweet to taste before injections may stop them from crying for as long.
"Although we can't confidently say that sugary solutions reduce needle pain, these results do look promising."
David Elliman of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said sugar solution was not used routinely in practice.
"Generally, doctors recommend that the mother holds the baby and comforts it while they have their immunisation. If she is breastfeeding still, she might want to breastfeed her baby at the same time.
"With older children we try to distract them. If you do the usual holding and comforting, I'm not sure how much sucrose would add.
"What we do know is that using a shorter needle tends to be more painful, even though this might seem counterintuitive. That's because the injections need to go into the muscle."
By the time a child has reached its second birthday it should have had around 10 different injections to protect against various infectious diseases, including measles, mumps and rubella.