Md. Anisur Rahman | |
|---|---|
মোঃ আনিসুর রহমান | |
| Born | 1933 (age 90–91) |
| Occupation(s) | Researcher, economist, professor |
| Spouse |
Dora Rahman (m. 1958) |
| Children | Lita, Rubina |
| Academic career | |
| Field | |
| Alma mater | |
Md. Anisur Rahman (born 1933)[1] is a Bangladeshi economist and intellectual, known for his significant contributions to the Bangladeshi independence movement. Along with Dr. Sadeque, Nurul Islam, Habibur Rahman, and Akhlaqur Rahman, Rahman was involved in developing the two-economy theory,[2] which helped in providing a scientific understanding of the economic disparities between West Pakistan (Pakistan since 1971) and East Pakistan (Bangladesh since 1971).[3] This understanding played a crucial role in fomenting nationalist aspirations of the people of Bangladesh and the development of the 6-Point Programme presented by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to the West Pakistan government during the struggle for independence.[2][4][5]
In 1971, Rahman and his family narrowly escaped being killed by the Pakistani army during the 1971 Dhaka University massacre.[6] He fled to India with the help of friends and sought refuge with Amartya Sen[7][8] before lobbying for the Bangladesh cause in America,[9] which played a key role in halting World Bank aid to Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War.[10][11]
Rahman served as a member of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, where he proposed and advocated for austerity measures to help the country recover from the War of Liberation, but his frustrations grew as the political leadership failed to respond to his suggestions. He concluded that socialism was not possible with such leadership and left the commission.[12]
He then went to serve as the Chairman of the Economics Department at the University of Dhaka and Senior Research Officer for United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. He joined the International Labour Office (ILO) where he directed a program on the participation of the rural poor in development until his retirement in 1990.[9] He became a strong advocate for people's self-development and participatory action research, while pursuing his passion for music and being awarded the Rabindra Puraskar in 2004 for his contribution to Rabindranath Tagore's music and literature.[13]
There are too individuals such as the economists Rehman Sobhan and Anisur Rahman, whose role in the formulation of the Six Points remains an integral part of history
Professor Anisur Rahman has given a moving account of how he was saved by having placed a lock on the outside of his door, which led his assailants to think he was away. He and his wife and children crawled about on their hands and knees for some 48 hours in order not to be seen from the ground. In the meantime they heard his colleagues, Professor Guhathakurda and Professor Muniruzzaman dragged out of their flats and shot
diary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).he would travel on to Calcutta and Delhi and then find his way to America, the goal being a propagation of the Bangladesh cause before the international community.
While Sobhan, Anisur Rahman and Nurul Islam operated as a Bangladesh lobby in the US, playing a major part in stopping World Bank aid to Pakistan,
Rahman wanted to test the commitment of the political leadership to the goal of socialism. Accordingly, he wrote "visionary papers" and wanted the Cabinet to react to them. He emphasised the need for the leadership to practice austerity (such as riding bicycles to their offices) to set an example to the people of shared sacrifice. Unless this basic commitment issue was sorted out, Rahman was not interested in developing detailed policy papers and plans. Seeing that the political leadership was not responsive to his broad suggestions, he concluded that socialism was not possible with such a leadership and, accordingly, was the first among the four professors to leave the BPC.