2003 in Bangladesh explained

The year 2003 was the 32nd year after the independence of Bangladesh. It was also the third year of the third term of the Government of Khaleda Zia.

Incumbents

• President: Iajuddin Ahmed
• Prime Minister: Khaleda Zia
• Chief Justice: Mainur Reza Choudhury (until 22 June), Khondokar Mahmud Hasan (starting 22 June)

Demography

Population, total

134,791,598
Population density (per km^2)	1035.5
Population growth (annual %)	1.7%
Male to Female Ratio (every 100 Female)	105.4
Urban population (% of total)	25.4%
Birth rate, crude (per 1,000 people)	25.4
Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people)	6.4
Mortality rate, under 5 (per 1,000 live births)	73
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)	66.9
Fertility rate, total (births per woman)	2.9

Economy

National Income

	Current US$	Current BDT	% of GDP
GDP	$60.2 billion	BDT3,483.2 billion
GDP growth (annual %)	4.7%
GDP per capita	$446.3	BDT25,841
Agriculture, value added	$11.9 billion	BDT690.1 billion	19.8%
Industry, value added	$13.5 billion	BDT782.8 billion	22.5%
Services, etc., value added	$31.5 billion	BDT1,825.2 billion	52.4%
Balance of Payment
	Current US$	Current BDT	% of GDP
Current account balance	$0.1 billion		.2%
Imports of goods and services	$11.1 billion	BDT565.2 billion	16.2%
Exports of goods and services	$7,928.3 million	BDT398.2 billion	11.4%
Foreign direct investment, net inflows	$268.3 million		0.4%
Personal remittances, received	$3,191.7 million		5.3%
Total reserves (includes gold) at year end	$2,624.6 million
Total reserves in months of imports	2.8

Note: For the year 2003 average official exchange rate for BDT was 58.15 per US$.

Events

• 9 January – The Operation Clean Heart came to an end.^[1] The Bangladesh Government passed an indemnity law that provided legal protection to security personnel who participated in the operation.^[2] Later, in November 2015 Bangladesh High Court declared the indemnity ordinance illegal and scrapped it.^[1]
• 17 January – A bomb attack at the Failya Paglar Mela in Tangail, Bangladesh that resulted in the death of 7 people.^{[3] [4]}
• 20 January – Bangladesh wins the 2003 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup.
• 8 July - A ferry named MV Nasrin-1 sunk in the Meghna River near Chandpur at midnight. Of the 750 people on board 220 were rescued.^{[5] [6]}
• 27 July – 175 fishermen go missing after storms strike the coast of Bangladesh and 300 homes are destroyed in an earthquake which strikes Chittagong.^[7]

Awards and recognitions

Independence Day Award

Recipients	Area	Note
	liberation War	posthumous
	liberation war	posthumous

Ekushey Padak

1. Muhammad Shamsul Huq
2. Muhammad Ekramul Huq
3. Zebunnessa Rahman
4. Zobeda Khanum
5. Abdul Mannan Syed
6. Al Mujahidi
7. Anjuman Ara Begum
8. Lokman Hossain Fakir
9. Khan Ataur Rahman
10. Abdul Hamid
11. Nazim Uddin Mostan
12. UNESCO

Sports

• International football:
  • Bangladesh hosted the 2003 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup in January and became the champions defeating the Maldives in the final, in front of 46,000 fans present at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
  • In March Bangladesh played 2 matches at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Hong Kong and Laos, failing to win a single match as they crashed out of the qualifiers bottom of their group.
  • In November Bangladesh played 2 matches against Tajikistan in home and away system as part of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round and lost both matches.
• Domestic football:
  • Muktijoddha Sangsad KC won the Dhaka League while Abahani Limited Dhaka became runner-up.^[8]
  • Muktijoddha Sangsad KC won National Football League while Mohammedan SC became runners-up.
• Cricket

• • The South African national cricket team toured Bangladesh in April and May and played a two-match Test series against the Bangladeshi national cricket team. South Africa won the Test series 2–0.^[9]
  • The Bangladesh national cricket team played two Test matches and three One Day International (ODI) matches on a mid-year tour of Australia in 2003. Australia easily won the two-match Test series. Bangladesh's performances' did not get any better during the ODI series—failing to score more than 147 in any innings—as Australia completed a clean-sweep.
  • The Bangladeshi national cricket team visited Pakistan in August to September 2003 and played a three-match Test series against the Pakistani national cricket team. Pakistan won the Test series 3–0. In addition, the teams played a five-match Limited Overs International (LOI) series which Pakistan won 5–0.^[10]
  • The English cricket team toured Bangladesh from 12 October to 12 November 2003, playing a two-match Test series and a three-match One Day International series; England won all five matches to take whitewashes in both series.

See also

• 2000s in Bangladesh
• List of Bangladeshi films of 2003
• Timeline of Bangladeshi history

Notes and References

1. News: HC scraps law giving indemnity for 'Operation Clean Heart' . bdnews24.com . 16 November 2016.
2. Web site: Operation Clean Heart indemnity law illegal: HC . The Daily Star . 16 November 2016 . 13 September 2015.
3. News: Ahsan . Shamim . The Blame Game Goes on . Star Magazine . The Daily Star . 12 July 2017.
4. Book: Bammi . Y. M. . India Bangladesh Relations: The Way Ahead . 2010 . Vij Books India Pvt Ltd . 978-93-82573-20-3 . 228.
5. News: 11 July 2003 . Hopes dying down: 15 bloated bodies recovered, more float downstream, no sight of sunken launch, raging currents frustrate rescuers, villagers keep vigil on Meghna banks . The Daily Star . https://web.archive.org/web/20031117170943/http://thedailystar.net/2003/07/11/d3071101011.htm . 17 November 2003 . 17 November 2003.
6. News: Bodies surfacing from ferry disaster . Chicago Tribune . 11 July 2003 . 29 September 2013.
7. News: Fears grow for Bangladesh fishermen . BBC News . 27 July 2003.
8. Web site: List of Champions. Atsushi Fujioka for Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 16 October 2018.
9. Web site: South Africa secure innings victory over Bangladesh . ESPNcricinfo.
10. Web site: subscription . Bangladesh in Pakistan 2003 . CricketArchive . 18 June 2014.