Governance, administration & local government

The administrative pyramid

Bangladesh inherited a centralised bureaucratic state from the British Raj and Pakistan, and the structure remains essentially deconcentrated rather than devolved. The field administration descends through a clear hierarchy: the Division (8 in number after Mymensingh was created on 14 September 2015), the District / Zila (64), the Upazila / sub-district (495), and the Union at the base. Each division is headed by a Divisional Commissioner; each district by a Deputy Commissioner (DC), who is simultaneously District Magistrate and Collector and remains the linchpin of revenue, law-and-order and disaster management. At the sub-district sits the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO).

The Secretariat and the rules of business

At the apex, executive authority is exercised through the Bangladesh Secretariat, organised into ministries and divisions each headed by a Secretary, the senior-most civil servant accountable to the political minister. The conduct of government is governed by the Rules of Business, 1996 and the Allocation of Business, which distribute subjects among ministries. Article 55(6) of the Constitution empowers the President to make rules for the allocation and transaction of government business. The Cabinet Division coordinates inter-ministerial work and services the Cabinet.

The civil service

Recruitment to the elite cadres is conducted by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC), a constitutional body under Articles 137-141, through the BCS examination. The service was reorganised by the Bangladesh Civil Service (Reorganisation) Order, 1980, creating unified cadres including BCS (Administration), (Foreign Affairs), (Police), (Taxation), (Audit and Accounts) and others. The Establishment / Public Administration Ministry controls postings, promotions and the cadre system; the Ministry of Public Administration issues the gradation lists that determine seniority.

Reform has been recurrent but incremental. The Administrative and Services Reorganisation Committee (ASRC, 1973) under Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury, the Pay and Services Commission (1977), and later the Public Administration Reform Commission (PARC, 2000) chaired by Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury all recommended a leaner, more accountable bureaucracy and stronger local government; most recommendations were diluted in implementation. The persistent tension is between a powerful generalist Administration cadre and the technical cadres, and between the centre and elected local bodies.

Accountability institutions

Oversight is exercised by the Comptroller and Auditor General (Articles 127-132), the Anti-Corruption Commission established under the ACC Act 2004, and the courts. The Right to Information Act, 2009 created a statutory transparency regime and an Information Commission, while the National Human Rights Commission (Act of 2009) monitors rights compliance. Candidates should note that Bangladesh has not yet operationalised a national Ombudsman despite Article 77 of the Constitution permitting Parliament to establish one - a recurring reform gap. Together these institutions define the formal architecture of governance the BCS tests.

Constitutional mandate for local government

The Constitution treats local self-government as a directive, not an option. Article 9 directs the State to encourage local government institutions composed of elected representatives, with special representation for peasants, workers and women. Article 59 mandates that local government in every administrative unit be entrusted to bodies of elected persons, and Article 60 empowers Parliament to confer on them the power to impose taxes, prepare budgets and maintain funds. These articles are the single most quoted constitutional basis in any local-government question.

The tiered structure

Rural local government operates on three principal tiers. The Union Parishad (UP) is the oldest and lowest rural unit, dating in lineage to the Chowkidari Act of 1870 and codified now under the Local Government (Union Parishad) Act, 2009; each UP has a directly elected Chairman, nine ward members and three reserved seats for women. The Upazila Parishad, revived under the Upazila Parishad Act, 1998, has an elected Chairman and two Vice-Chairmen (one a woman), with UNO as executive officer - a structure that breeds friction between elected chairs and the bureaucracy. The Zila Parishad functions under the Zila Parishad Act, 2000.

Urban government comprises City Corporations (Dhaka North, Dhaka South after the 2011 split, plus Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barishal, Rangpur, Cumilla, Gazipur and Narayanganj) governed by the Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009, and Pourashavas / municipalities under the Local Government (Paurashava) Act, 2009. The Chittagong Hill Tracts have a distinct arrangement under the CHT Regional Council Act, 1998, flowing from the 1997 Peace Accord.

Reserved seats and devolution deficit

The Local Government (Union Parishad) (Amendment) Act, 1997 introduced direct election to one-third reserved women's seats, a landmark for women's political representation. Yet the central weakness remains a devolution deficit: local bodies depend overwhelmingly on central grants and the Annual Development Programme, lack buoyant own-source revenue, and are supervised tightly by the field administration. Successive commissions urged genuine fiscal and functional devolution; the gap between Article 59's promise and field reality is the analytical core of most essay questions.

Why this matters for the exam

Governance and local government is a high-frequency, high-yield zone in the BCS. It is tested in Bangladesh Affairs within both the preliminary MCQ paper and the written paper, and it overlaps with the constitutional-law and public-administration segments. Examiners favour it because it rewards precise factual recall - numbers of divisions, districts and tiers - married to analytical judgement about devolution.

What is actually asked

Preliminary MCQs reliably test counts and dates: 8 divisions (Mymensingh added 2015), 64 districts, 495 upazilas; the year of the Upazila Parishad Act (1998); the article numbers for local government (9, 59, 60); the date of the two-Dhaka split (2011). Memorise these as a block. The written paper poses analytical questions: "Local government in Bangladesh suffers from a devolution deficit - discuss" or "Evaluate the role of the Deputy Commissioner in district administration." PYQ analysis shows recurring prompts on the DC's tripartite role (Magistrate, Collector, coordinator), on women's reserved seats after the 1997 amendment, and on the friction between UNO and elected chairmen.

How to score

The marking premium goes to answers that (1) cite the constitutional article and the governing statute by name and year, (2) name the relevant reform commission - ASRC 1973, PARC 2000 - and (3) deploy the analytical frame of deconcentration versus devolution. A weak answer narrates the tiers; a strong answer argues that despite Articles 59-60, Bangladesh remains a deconcentrated unitary state where field bureaucracy dominates elected bodies, and supports this with the fiscal-dependence and supervisory-control evidence. Always anchor the abstract claim to a dated instance - the 1997 reserved-seats amendment, the 1998 Upazila revival, the 2024 dissolution of local bodies. That triad of citation, commission, and conceptual frame is what converts a pass into a distinction.