ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with an evaluation of the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government's policies and the performance of the nationalized enterprises. Several of the specifics and technical provisions of the Nationalization Act warrant attention in order to comprehend the Act's scope and ramifications. Anyone studying Bangladesh affairs of the period is constantly told that a main reason for nationalization was that half of the managerial talent fled to West Pakistan. Rehman Sobhan, the leading exponent of nationalization and foe of privatization in Bangladesh, implies, probably with some justice, that public opinion in Dhaka did not favor further divestitures if the mills would fall into the hands of West Pakistani capitalists. The three periods cover British colonial rule, union with Pakistan, and the first post-liberation government of independent Bangladesh under Mujibur. At the time of partition in 1947, the industrial sector throughout Pakistan was small, and negligible in the East Wing.
