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Bangladesh Context

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National Socio-political environment Bangladesh has a multiparty parliamentary democracy with two major political parties, with a presidential head of state. Parliamentary elections are held every 5 years. The local government system is weak. There is a pluralistic and free print media.

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National Socio-political environment The state-owned and controlled broadcast media environment is undergoing change with the advent of several privately owned television channels under a government licensing system. Strong national NGOs have significant socio- economic influence.

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Political Parties Political parties are imperative in a democratic system. A modern democratic government system is primarily the rule of a political party. A government formed through people's vote is a democratic government. Without political parties, it is not possible to form this democratic government.

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Political Parties A political party is that part of a country's populace which is organized to resolve the national problems on the basis of an ideology or some principles or program. The main goal of a political party is to run the country according to its principles and ideals and to implement election commitments.

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Political Parties A political party works in the interests of every one irrespective of all religions, race, men, women, class and profession. One of the characteristic of a democratic system is the presence of an ideology and program- based political parties. There are some countries in the world where political parties do not exist.

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Political Parties For example, no party exists in Saudi Arabia. There all political decisions are taken by the King's family and its council. Again, in some places laws have been formulated to ban political parties. Like in Uganda in African continent, all political parties were banned by the government until 2005

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Characteristics of a political party Organized group of people Gaining power Clearly defined ideals and program Institutional framework and leadership Election-related activities

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Role of a political party Creating leadership Formation of government Creating public opinion Political education Constructive opposition Establishment of social unity

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The main political parties of Bangladesh The party system of a country does not only explain the presence of political parties in that country. Rather, party system refers to the number, structure, theirs relation with government etc.

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The main political parties of Bangladesh According to the country's constitution, every citizen has the right to express his opinion freely and form organization or association. As a reflection of this, we can see the existence of multi-party system in Bangladesh.

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The main political parties of Bangladesh Presently, there are many political parties in Bangladesh. Noteworthy among these are: Awami League, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jatiya Party (JP), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Worker's Party of Bangladesh, Jamaat- E- Islami.

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The main political parties of Bangladesh - - ( . )

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The main political parties of Bangladesh - . . -

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The main political parties of Bangladesh - -

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The main political parties of Bangladesh -

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The main political parties of Bangladesh

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The main political parties of Bangladesh - ( ) -

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Policy Directions from the Major Political Parties On the eve of the revival of democratic practice in Bangladesh, in the 90s, a sincere commitment for age-care programmes was observed in the election manifestos of different major national political parties. It was a historical political victory for the older people of Bangladesh through a great political consensus.

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Policy Directions from the Major Political Parties During the National Election in 1996, 2001 and 2008 in Bangladesh, the major political parties of the country mentioned the importance of old age health care and welfare commitment for the aged people in their Election Manifesto.

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Bangladesh Awami League Awami League is the oldest and largest party. The Party was formed in Dhaka under the name Awami Muslin League on June 23, 1949. Later, to make it more acceptable to all, the word 'Muslim' was omitted from the label of the party in 1955. Bengali nationalism, democracy, secularism and creation of an exploitation free society are the main principles of Awami League.

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Bangladesh Awami League The Party secured majority seats in the 1970 General Elections in Pakistan under the leadership of father of the nation Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The 1971 War of Liberation was fought under the leadership of the Awami League. Through this war, an independent, sovereign Bangladesh was born.

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Bangladesh Awami League The Sheikh Hasina Government (1996-2001) for its part introduced Old-age Allowance Programme from the revenue budget in 1998 to subsidies the poor and vulnerable older persons. For the first time the Bangladesh government officially recognised state obligation in supporting the helpless older persons of the country.

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Bangladesh Awami League Accordingly, in 1998, the government, through the Ministry of Social Welfare, made arrangements to identify and select the poor and older section of the older people (aged 65+) in rural areas to distribute 100 BDT (around US $ 2.00) for each person per month keeping a 50:50 gender balance. At one stage this programme started to cover some urban poor older persons as well.

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Bangladesh Awami League Bangladesh Awami League, the winning political party of the National Election in 2008 promised to double the number of old age allowance and distressed women allowance beneficiaries (Election Manifesto of Bangladesh Awami League, 2008).

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Bangladesh Awami League Election Manifesto of Bangladesh Awami League, 2014 Social Safety Net programmes would be strengthened while free distribution of food and allowances for poor, widows and age-old people would continue. 6.1: Social security: Old age allowance; allowance for the destitute, widowed and abandoned women will be continue.

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Bangladesh Awami League 6.2:Introduce pension system: Pension system in the non-government organization will be initiated by the 2018; and by the 2021, national pension system will be finalized for ensuring social security for all citizens.

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Bangladesh Nationalist Party Bangladesh Nationalist Party is another large political party. General Ziaur Rahman founded the Party on September 1,1978. The ideals or principles of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party are - belief in islamic values, bangladeshi nationalism, democracy and free market economy.

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Bangladesh Nationalist Party Following this result, the Khaleda Zia Government (1991-1996) disbursed 90 million BDT through Bangladesh Association for the Aged and Institute of Geriatric Medicine (BAAIGM) to construct a geriatric hospital and an old home in Dhaka as well as five geriatric clinics in the five divisional headquarters in the country. Fortunately, this allocation was used properly and in time.

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Bangladesh Nationalist Party Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the immediate past ruling and the major opposition party also promised to increase the amount of the allowance for the poor elderly people.

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Bangladesh Nationalist Party They also promised to pass the proposed National Policy on Ageing from the highest body of the government and bringing peace, status and security to about 10 million elderly people of the country (Election Manifesto 2008, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, 2008).

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Jatiya Party Jatiya Party is the country's third largest Party. This Party was founded on 1st. January 1986 under the leadership of General Hossain Mohammad Ershad. In the written proclamation of Jatiya Party : 1.Independence and sovereignty, 2) Islamic Ideals and freedom of all religions,

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Jatiya Party 3) Bangladeshi Nationalism, 4) Democracy and 5) Social progress, that is, economic emancipation - these five have been adopted as the Party's ideals.

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Jatiya Party The Jatiya Party has released its manifesto for the 10th parliamentary election ending speculation about the partys participation in the general election(02.01.2014) The party has eight pledges the first being upholding of Islamic values.

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Jatiya Party "The main objective of JP is to maintain the continuation of the Constitution of the country, JP presidium member Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud

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Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is a religion- based political party. This party was formed in 1941 in British India under the leadership of Maulana Abul Ala Maududi. It was named Jamaate- Islami Hind at that time. After the establishment of Pakistan, it was named Jamaat-e- Islami Pakistan. In May 1979, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh emerged in independent Bangladesh. Currently, the party is known as Bangladesh Jammat-e-Islami.

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Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) On 31 October 1972, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) was established in independent Bangladesh. JSD believes in socialist ideology.

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Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) General Secretary Sharif Nurul Ambiya read out the document at the partys Bangabandhu Avenue office. The manifesto stated that the party aimed at the strengthening of the constitutional and democratic processes.

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Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) JSD, a component of the Awami League-led Grand Alliance, said it would take steps to form a government along with other secular and democratic forces if the party candidates won the election. It would work to protect the interest of the underprivileged and religious and ethnic minorities, local entrepreneurs, professionals, labourers and farmers, the manifesto said.

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Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) The party would also try to convince the government to formulate policies for people's welfare. It would strive to work for the execution of the 1971 war crimes verdicts, curbing militancy and destroying its network(01.01.2014)

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Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) Bangladesh Communist Party was formed in the name of the Communist Party of India and Pakistan. Comrade Moni Singh (died 1990), who was the pioneer of the Communist movement in this country was the central leader of the Communist Party.

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Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) today(01.01.2014) announced it would boycott the 10th parliamentary election slated for January 5.

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Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB Without consensus among political parties regarding the polls-time government, no election can be acceptable. For this reason, we will not participate in the election, CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim said at a press briefing in the capital.

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BangladeshWorkers Party Some factions of the frequently divided pro - Chinese Communists united together to form Bangladesh Workers Party. This Party came into existence in 1980.

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BangladeshWorkers Party The Workers Party (WP) of Bangladesh, a component in the Awami League-led grand alliance, has announced its 24-point election manifesto, focusing on the establishment of a non-communal and democratic Bangladesh. The election pledges include achieving of food security, reducing prices of the essential commodities, eradication of poverty, controlling communalism and militancy, agricultural reforms, land reform,

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BangladeshWorkers Party developments of industry, workers, controlling imperialist aggressions, controlling corruptions, extortions and strengthening the Election Commission for holding the elections under constitution.

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Government initiative The then British Government introduced retirement pension system for those who retired from government service at the age of 57 years under the Indian Retirement Pension Benefit Act of 1925. There was no government-specific initiative to benefit the older people during the Pakistan period, there was only a retirement pension system.

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Government initiative The following is the list of this programme advancement: As a member country of the First World Assembly on Ageing, organised by the UN in 1982 in Vienna, Austria and the Second World Assembly on Ageing, organised by UN in 2002 in Madrid, Spain and as a signatory to VIPAA and MIPAA,

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Government initiative the Bangladesh government has constituted a National Committee on Ageing. The Ministry of Social Welfare has finalised the National Policy on Older Persons, which is approved by the cabinet for gazette notification.