‘Stranded Pakistanis’ in Bangladesh – victims of political divisions of 70 years agoNearly 300 000 Urdu-speaking Muslims, coming mostly from India’s Bihar, live today in Bangladesh, half of them in the makeshift camps maintained by the Bangladeshi government. After the division of the Subcontinent in 1947 they migrated to East Bengal (from 1955 known as East Pakistan), despite stronger cultural and linguistic ties (they were Urdu, not Bengali, speakers) connecting them with West Pakistan. In 1971, after East Pakistan became independent and Bangladesh was formed, these so-called ‘Biharis’ were placed by the authorities of the newly formed republic in the camps, from which they were supposed – and they hoped – to be relocated to Pakistan. However, over the next 20 years, only a small number of these people has actually been transferred. The rest of them are still inhabiting slum-like camps in former East Bengal, deprived of any citizenship and all related rights (to work, education, health care, insurance, etc.). The governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh consistently refuse to take responsibility for their fate, incapable of making any steps that would eventually solve the complex problem of these people, also known as ‘stranded Pakistanis.’ The article explains historical and political factors that were responsible for the fate of ‘Biharis’ and presents their current legal situation in Bangladesh. „Opuszczeni Pakistańczycy” w Bangladeszu - ofiary podziałów politycznych sprzed 70 latW prowizorycznych obozach utrzymywanych przez rząd Bangladeszu żyje do dziś blisko pół miliona muzułmanów z indyjskiego Biharu, którzy po podziale subkontynentu w 1947 roku wyemigrowali do Bengalu Wschodniego (później: Pakistanu Wschodniego), pomimo silniejszych więzi kulturowych i językowych (posługują się językiem urdu) łączących ich z Pakistanem Zachodnim. W 1971 roku po uniezależnieniu się Pakistanu Wschodniego i utworzeniu Bangladeszu, około 300-tysięczna grupa Biharczyków została zamknięta przez władze nowo powstałej republiki w obozach, z których następnie miała zostać relokowana do Pakistanu. Jednak w kolejnych 20 latach zaledwie część tych osób została rzeczywiście przesiedlona. Pozostali, pozbawieni obywatelstwa i wszystkich wiążących się z tym uprawnień (np. do pracy, edukacji, ochrony zdrowia, ubezpieczenia itd.), wciąż zamieszkują przypominające slumsy obozy na terenie byłego Bengalu Wschodniego, zaś rządy Pakistanu, Indii i Bangladeszu wzajemnie przerzucają na siebie odpowiedzialność za ich losy, niezdolne do poczynienia jakichkolwiek kroków, które pozwoliłyby ostatecznie rozwiązać skomplikowany problem tzw. opuszczonych Pakistańczyków (ang. stranded Pakistanis). Artykuł wyjaśnia czynniki historyczne i polityczne, które były odpowiedzialne za los „Biharczyków”, oraz przedstawia ich obecną sytuację prawną w Bangladeszu.

Neuroeconomics has the potential to fundamentally change the way economics is done. This article identifies the ways in which this will occur, pitfalls of this approach, and areas where progress has already been made. The value of neuroeconomics studies for social policy lies in the quality, replicability, and relevance of the research produced. While most economists will not contribute to the neuroeconomics literature, we contend that most economists should be reading these studies.

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Akbar the Great (1542-1605) and Christianity. Between religion and politics The second half of the 16 th century, during the reign of India's third, and widely regarded as the greatest, ruler of the Mughal dynasty, Jalāl ud-Dīn Muḥammad Akbar, was also the time when the Europeans were becoming increasingly present on the Indian Subcontinent. Especially active among them were the Portuguese-both in the political and economic sense as well as in the cultural and the religious dimension. After reaching India with the expedition of Vasco da Gama in 1498, the Portuguese very quickly-already in 1505-started their expansion on the Western cost of the Subcontinent and throughout the next thirty years conquered the territories of Goa (where they established a powerful trading post and which also became the seat of the viceroy and council appointed by the Portuguese king in Lisbon), and Diu. From 1558 the Portuguese forces occupied also Daman, which was an important port on the Cambay Gulf, and thus created a great problem for the Mughals, especially after the annexation of the rich and prosperous province of Gujarat into the Mughal Empire in 1572. The Portuguese naval dominance over the Arabian Sea caused that no Indian ship could sail without the so-called cartaz or special pass for safe conducts. For Indian Muslims this situation was especially oppressive since the ports of the Western coast were the point of embarkation for pilgrims going to Mecca. 1 The conflicts (also the armed ones) between the Mughal authorities of the province and the Portuguese happened during the whole of the Akbar's reign.

The pseudo-memoir novel “Umrao Jaan Ada”, created in the late 19th century by the North Indian writer Mirza Muhammad Hadi Rusva was an extraordinary phenomenon against the background of the then literature of the subcontinent – not only because of its undeniable artistic qualities, but also thanks to the fact that it offers several different possibilities of interpretation to the readers and researchers. “Umrao Jaan Ada” can be classified, among others, as a combination of autobiographical and biographical novel, a classical “Bildungsroman”, a novel focused on the gender perspective, or the first realistic novel written in Urdu – and interpreted in a manner appropriate to each of these types, using the methods developed in such fields as sociology, psychology, history, literary science or gender studies. However, regardless of whether we treat the text of the novel as a historical source, an extensive interview, a memoir or a case study – it provides us with enormous factual material on the life and functioning of an exceptional social group, comprised of well educated and very influential courtesans (“tawaifs”), in 19th century North India . For decades their activities constituted the cultural foundations of the Islamicate elites in South Asia. On the basis of colourful and faithful descriptions and information provided by Ruswa on the pages of his novel, we can now reconstruct this unique cultural tradition in its spiritual, material and social aspects.