Bangladesh: Market Force Supersedes Control

Bengal was once an advanced area in the Indian subcontinent. Since the age of Buddha there have been numerous births and collapses of kingdoms in the Bengal region (Islam 1997). In the late eighteenth century, British India made Kolkata its capital, and this remains the capital of the West Bengal state of India. The region was also advanced in terms of industrialization, led by the textile industry. Cotton textiles symbolized by Dhaka muslin and jute products were the items produced and exported (Iftikhar-Ul-Awwal 1982, 1997).