Eminent economist Nurul Islam dies

News Desk :
Eminent Economist Professor Nurul Islam died. He was 94.
He breathed his last on Monday night in Washington, United States.
Professor Nurul Islam was the former deputy chairman of Bangladesh’s first planning commission.
A conversation with Dr Nurul Islam: The man who never returned
He served as the emeritus fellow of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). He joined the institute in 1987 as senior policy adviser to the director general.
In his long professional career, he served as director general of the economic and social development department of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
Besides, he was the teacher of economics department of Dhaka University and made the chairman of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
Professor Nurul Islam achieved PhD from Harvard University after completing bachelor and masters in economics from Dhaka University.
He was at the forefront of raising awareness about the economic disparity between the eastern and western wings of Pakistan, since the late 1950s.
When the liberation war of Bangladesh ended, he refused a meaty role to head the Development Research Center at the World Bank in Washington for a role in rebuilding the country. With the Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman acting as the chairman of the newly founded planning commission, Nurul Islam became its deputy chairman.
After Bangabandhu’s death, he moved to Rome to work at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, where he served as an Assistant Director General. From there he moved to International Food Research Policy Institute (IFPRI) in Washington.
The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) expressed its condolences over the demise of veteran economist Professor Nurul Islam. It is an irreparable loss to all concerned with the country’s economy and economic research, BIDS said in a statement.