ベンガルデルタの村落形成についての覚え書(<特集>バングラデシュの農業と農村)

Abstract

From our major findings based on a field survey and a study of revenue records, the concept of 'settlement form', which involves the two notions of a territorial unit with a distinct geographical boundary, and the nature of community formation defined by the settlement pattern, is identified as the analytical key to understanding the agrarian social structure in Bangladesh. The para is the unit in this sense. There is, unfortunately, a wide gap between the development administrative centre and the location for development, that is, the 'village'. For ordinary villagers, officials of local government at the district, upazila and union level and officials of BRDB (Bangladesh Rural Development Board) are still total strangers. The linkage of 'village' to centre does not work, not only because of lack of enthusiasm on the part of local government officials, but also because of administrative deficiency, with nobody officially representing the 'village' at the union and upazila parishad. The better administrative linkage of 'village', namely, para, to centre does work, the more para society consolidates for rural development.