Message of Honourable Speaker

Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim

Our unicameral Parliament, known as 'Jatiyo Shangshad' in Bengali and 'House of the Nation' in English is a source of extreme pride for all our citizens. The tremendous interest our people take in Parliament is profoundly demonstrated by the turn-out of voters in the general election held to elect three hundred Members of a new Parliament. As many as 75.71% voters turned out in the general election held on October 1, 2001 to elect the present eighth Parliament of Bangladesh. 

The Constitution of Bangladesh came into force on December 16, 1972. It established a parliamentary form of government but, as subsequent developments would have it, the Constitution underwent as many as 13 amendments by the year 1996. An earlier amendment, the fourth amendment to more be specific, introduced a one-party system and a presidential form of government. Multi-party pluralistic system was however restored in 1978 by Hon. President Ziaur Rahman. 

The restoration of multi-party system and the last two of these thirteen constitutional amendments are very significant for the growth of democracy in the country. The fifth Parliament, led by Hon. Begum Khaleda Zia, in an unprecedented unanimous vote on the Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) Bill, 1991 reintroduced parliamentary democracy in the country. Then came the Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Bill, 1996, which added to our Constitution a unique feature known as "Non-party Caretaker Government".

  The Jatiyo Shangshad as a body sits in plenary to enact legislation and to consider appropriations and tax proposals of the Minister of Finance under Part V, Chapter II of the constitution. It also sits in plenary to hear the President’s address and messages to the Parliament under Article 73 of the constitution and to transact a host of other business. According to our Constitution, Parliament reserves the right to assent to or refuse to assent to any demand for grants and that "No tax shall be levied or collected except by or under the authority of an Act of Parliament". Ministers sit in Parliament to provide answers to all questions relating to matters of public interest raised by Hon. Members of Parliament through various parliamentary devices. A lot of parliamentary business is also transacted in the parliamentary committees, outside the plenary sessions. The Jatiyo Shangshad has an elaborate "System of Committees", most of them perform "oversight" functions while a few look after matters concerning self-organisation of Parliament.

  I hope the text on the Website, which gives a brief account of how our Parliament functions will be helpful to any reader who wants to gain an insight into the parliamentary system of Bangladesh