Islam, Nurul2
Islam, Nurul2 (1929-2023) Economist, academician and author. Nurul Islam was born on 1 April 1929 and brought up in Chittagong district. His father was a school teacher and due to his frequent transfer, Professor Nurul could begin his education later than usual. In his autobiography, An Odyssey: The Journey of My Life, he claimed that he had been homeschooled by his father until he got into a high school. He graduated from Chittagong College. Then he received his PhD in Economics from Harvard University in 1955 after completing his studies at Presidency College, Calcutta, and the University of Dhaka.
After earning his PhD, Nurul Islam returned to the University of Dhaka and joined as Associate Professor (then Reader) in the Department of Economics in 1960. He was one of the prominent promoters of the ‘Two Economy Theory’ developed in 1961. He also focused on the economic differences between the East and West Pakistan. He worked with other economist to develop Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Six Point demand. He resigned from the University of Dhaka in 1965 to take a position as Director of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, which is currently known as Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
Nurul Islam was one of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s closest confidants. During the Liberation War of 1971, he campaigned in the United States to generate support on a global scale for Bangladesh’s independence. He was a member of the Planning Commission setup by the ‘Mujibnagar Government’ during 1971. Upon his return home after the Liberation War, he was appointed deputy chairman of the first Planning Commission of which Bangabandhu was the Chairman. Nurul Islam departed Bangladesh for good following the 1975 killing of Bangabandhu.
Nurul Islam held the position of Assistant Director-General for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Division of Economic and Social Policy during his long professional career. He began working as an advisor and later an emeritus fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 1975. He was also a Fellow at St. Antony’s College of Oxford University, Assistant Director General of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, and Assistant Director General of the World Bank. He had multiple visiting academic positions at Yale University, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, and the Netherlands School of Economics. He served on the UN Committee of Development Planning Policy as a member followed by as its chairman. Islam joined the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 1987 as Senior Policy Adviser to the Director General and was working as an Emeritus Fellow at the time of his demise.
Nurul Islam wrote 29 books, including Corruption, Its Control and Drivers of Change, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh: A Primer on Political History, Development Planning in Bangladesh: A Study in Political Economy, Development Strategy of Bangladesh, Foodgrain Price Stabilization in Developing Countries: Issues and Experiences in Asia, Exploration in Development Issues: Selected Articles of Nurul Islam (Ashgate 2003) and Making of a Nation-Bangladesh: An Economist Tale (UPL 2003). In 2009, he received the Bangladesh Bank Award for his contributions to both theoretical and applied economics.
Nurul Islam died on 8 May 2023 in Washington DC of the USA. He left behind his wife, a son and a daughter. [Gobinda Chakraborty]
