1971 'Concert for Bangladesh' goes digital

On the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking Concert for Bangladesh, the first major music benefit for a humanitarian cause, the music community is coming together again for UNICEF.

This time it is to help provide emergency relief for children in famine and drought-affected regions in the Horn of Africa. UNICEF is calling the situation in the Horn of Africa the “worst humanitarian emergency in the world,” with Somalia being the epicenter of the crisis.

To pay tribute to the Concert for Bangladesh and its organizers George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, this August has been designated as the “Month of Giving.” During the Month of Giving all donations to the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF will benefit UNICEF’s life-saving programs for children in the Horn of Africa.

To jump start this fundraising initiative, the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF, which was founded by Olivia Harrison, wife of the late George Harrison, is immediately releasing $1 million to UNICEF for emergency efforts there.

As part of the Month of Giving, musicians and performing artists across the world will engage with fans at their concerts, and by tweeting and posting content to their websites and Facebook pages. These artists include the original Concert for Bangladesh performers Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and Leon Russell, as well as Arcade Fire, Monty Python, Elvis Costello, Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Doors, Selena Gomez, The Go-Go’s, Brian Wilson, My Morning Jacket, Nas, Jackson Browne, and more. To see a full list of participating artists, visit theconcertforbangladesh.com.

For Shankar — who sparked the concert by telling Harrison of the plight of refugees escaping famine, flood and civil war in East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh — the release and stream are reminders of a "magic" assemblage of talent and altruism.

"It was the first of its kind, in raising money for people under such conditions," Shankar says. "Now people do this sort of thing quite often, which is wonderful."

Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis confirms that the concerts, staged at New York's Madison Square Garden, were pop music's "first instance of someone trying to bring celebrity power to bear on a humanitarian crisis. There was no infrastructure then for how to pull together something like this."

The shows "were musically significant, too," he says. "Harrison hadn't really performed outside The Beatles, and the support he got was palpable. Dylan hadn't performed in years, and he was terrific; Clapton was ravaged by drugs at the time, but he was great."

To drive home the concerts' charitable aim, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF is declaring August a "Month for Giving," during which donations to the George Harrison Fund will benefit children in the famine- and drought-ravaged Horn of Africa. Artists spanning several generations, including alumni of the Bangladesh concerts, have pledged support. Starr, Clapton, Russell, Brian Wilson, Selena Gomez, Enrique Iglesias, Arcade Fire and Nas will be among those tweeting, posting Facebook content and otherwise engaging fans.

Caryl Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund, notes that Harrison's widow, Olivia, "was truly committed to doing something in George's name this summer that makes a difference in the lives of children today."

Shankar says it's "a joy to see the younger generation concerned about things like this." Just don't expect the legendary sitarist, now 91, to join them in using social media or other modern technology to support the cause.

Bangladeshi taka

Taka, টাকা, sign: ৳ or Tk, code: BDT) is the currency of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country controls the issuance of the currency except one taka and two taka notes, which are the responsibility of Ministry of Finance of the government of Bangladesh. The most commonly used symbol for the Taka is Tk and ৳, used on receipts while purchasing goods and services. One taka is subdivided into 100 poisha.

In Bengali, the word "taka" is also commonly used generically to mean any money, currency, or notes. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking Bengali may use "taka" to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in. The currency sign is encoded in Unicode at U+09F3 ৳​ bengali rupee sign .

In West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram, Orissa, and Assam, the Indian rupee is officially known by names derived from the word टङ्क (ṭaṃka) which means money. Thus, the rupee is called টাকা (ṭaka) in Bengali, টকা (tôka) in Assamese, and ଟଙ୍କା (ṭangka) in Oriya. The amount and the word "rupee" is accordingly written on Indian banknotes in several Indian languages including টকা, টাকা.

Currency notes and coins of the taka are issued by the Bangladesh Bank which is the central bank of Bangladesh. Currency notes bear the signature of the governor of the Bangladesh Bank who promises to pay the equivalent value in exchange. The exception is one taka and two taka notes. In this case, it is the Ministry of Finance of the government of Bangladesh that shoulders the responsibility. One taka and two taka notes bear the signature of the Finance Secretary to the government.

Upon Bangladesh's independence, the value of the Bangladeshi taka was set between 7.5 and 8.0 to US$1. With the exception of fiscal year 1978, the taka's value relative to the US dollar declined every year from 1971 through the end of 1987. To help offset this phenomenon, Bangladesh first used the compensatory financing facility of the International Monetary Fund in fiscal year 1974. Despite the increasing need for assistance, the Mujib government was initially unwilling to meet the IMF's conditions on monetary and fiscal policy. By fiscal year 1975, however, the government revised its stance, declaring a devaluation of the taka by 56 percent and agreeing to the establishment by the World Bank of the Bangladesh Aid Group.

Between 1980 and 1983, the taka sustained a decline of some 50 percent because of a deterioration in Bangladesh's balance of payments. Between 1985 and 1987, the taka was adjusted in frequent incremental steps, stabilizing again around 12 percent lower in real terms against the United States dollar, but at the same time narrowing the difference between the official rate and the preferential secondary rate from 15 percent to 7.5 percent. Accompanying this structural adjustment was an expansion in the amount of trade conducted at the secondary rate, to 53 percent of total exports and 28 percent of total imports. In mid-1987, the official rate was relatively stable, approaching less than Tk31 to US$1. As of January 3, 2011, one US dollar is equivalent to approximately 72 Bangladeshi taka.

In 1971, the erstwhile province of East Bengal became the independent nation of Bangladesh with the Pakistan Rupee as its interim currency. The taka became Bangladesh's currency in 1972, replacing the Pakistani rupee at par. The word "taka" is derived from the Sanskrit term तनक tanka which was an ancient denomination of silver coin. The term taka was widely used in different parts of India but with varying meanings. In north India, taka was a copper coin equal to two paise and in the south, it was equal to four paisa or one anna. It was only in Bengal and Orissa where taka was equal to rupee. In all areas of India, taka was used informally for money in general. However, Bengal was the stronghold of taka.

The rupee was introduced by the Turko-Afghan rulers and was strongly upheld by the Mughals and the British rulers. The Bengali and oriya people always used the word taka for the rupee, whether silver or gold. Ibn Battuta, the Arab traveller, noticed that, in Bengal, people described gold coins (Dinar) as gold tanka and silver coin as silver tanka. In other words, whatever might be the metallic content of the coin, the people of Bengal called it taka. When the Pakistan Rupee was issued prior to 1971 bearing both Urdu and Bengali alphabets (the official languages of the West and East zones respectively), the word taka was used in Bangla version instead of rupiya, as in Urdu version.

In 1971, Pakistani notes for 1, 5 and 10 rupees were overstamped for use in Bangladesh. These were followed in 1972 by treasury notes for 1 taka and notes of the Bangladesh Bank for 5, 10 and 100 taka. In 1975, banknotes for 50 taka were introduced, followed by 500 taka in 1977 and 20 taka in 1980. 1 taka treasury notes were issued until 1984, with 2 taka treasury notes introduced in 1989.

In 2000, the government issued polymer 10 taka notes as an experiment (similar to the Australian dollar). They proved unpopular, however, and were withdrawn later. At present, the 1 taka and 5 taka notes are gradually being replaced with coins.

In 2008, the government issued 1000 taka notes.

Bangladesh Bank

Bangladesh Bank is the Central bank of Bangladesh and is a member of the Asian Clearing Union.

Bangladesh Bank performs all the functions that a central bank of any country is expected to perform, and such functions include maintaining the price stability through economic and monetary policy measures, managing the country’s foreign exchange and the gold reserve and regulating the banking sector of the country. Like all other central banks across the globe, Bangladesh Bank is both the Government’s banker and the banker’s bank, a “Lender of the Last Resort”. Bangladesh Bank, like most of the central banks of different countries, exercises monopoly over the issue of currency and the banknotes. Except for the 1 and 2 taka notes, it issues all other denominations of Bangladeshi Taka.

After the liberation war, and the eventual independence of Bangladesh, the Government of Bangladesh reorganized the Dhaka branch of the State Bank of Pakistan as the central bank of the country, and named it Bangladesh Bank. This reorganization was done pursuant to Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972, and the Bangladesh Bank came into existence with retrospective effect from 16 December 1971.

The highest official in the bank is the Governor (currently Dr. Atiur Rahman). The Governor chairs the Board of Director. The Executive Staff, also headed by the Governor, are responsible for the day to day affairs.

Current Board of Directors

Chairman

Director

Md. Nazrul Huda

Dr.Mohammad Tareque

Mr. M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan

Dr. Nasiruddin Ahmed

Dr. Mustafa Kamal Mujeri

Dr. Sanot Kumar Saha

Dr. Nafeem Ahmed

Prof. Hannana*Md.

Block quote

Shafiqur Rahman Patwary

Former Governors

A.N.M. Hamidullah 1972-1974

A.K.N. Ahmed 1974-1976

M. Nurul Islam 1976-1987

Shegufta Bakht Chaudhuri 1987-1992

Khorshed Alam 1992-1996

Lutfar Rahman Sarkar 1996-1998

Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin 1998-2001

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed 2001-2005

Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed 2005-2009

Dr. Atiur Rahman 2009-