The Constitution Reform Commission has recommended changing the name of the country from 'People's Republic of Bangladesh' to 'People's Democratic Bangladesh'. The commission has also proposed replacing the word 'Republic' with 'Civil Democracy'.
On Wednesday (January 15), the Constitution Reform Commission, led by Professor Ali Riaz, submitted its report to Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.
The current name of the Constitution of Bangladesh is 'Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh'. The Constitution Reform Commission's recommendation states as the proposal of the constitution, 'With the consent of the people, we accept this constitution as the constitution of the People's Democratic Bangladesh.'
The country's existing constitution states that Bangladesh is a single, independent and sovereign republic, which will be known as 'People's Republic of Bangladesh'.
The commission has recommended that the words 'Civil Democracy' and 'People's Democracy of Bangladesh' be used in all applicable cases of the constitution instead of the words 'Republic' and 'People's Republic of Bangladesh'. However, the words 'Republic' and 'People's Republic of Bangladesh' will remain in the English version.
The Constitution Reform Commission has also recommended replacing the term 'Bengali' with 'Bangladeshi' as a citizenship. The commission has recommended deleting the provision 'The people of Bangladesh as a nation are Bengalis...'. They have recommended replacing the current Article 6(2) with 'Citizens of Bangladesh shall be known as "Bangladeshis".'