Professor Anisur Rahman, eminent Bangladeshi educator-researcher and Tagore exponent, passed away on Sunday in a Dhaka hospital at the age of 91.
The former Professor and Chairman at the Department of Economics at Dhaka University and a member of Bangladesh's first Planning Commission, passed away while receiving treatment for pneumonia, according to multiple sources.
His body will be kept at the Central Shaheed Minar from 11 am to 12 pm on Tuesday for public homage and then will be taken to the Segunbagicha Jame Masjid for the namaz-e-janaza. After the janaza, Prof Rahman will be taken to his ancestral home at Netrokona and will be buried there, according to Ruhin Hossain Prince, general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB)
Born in 1933 to Anwara Begum and Md Hafizur Rahman, a Minister of the then East Pakistan, Prof Rahman attended St Gregory's High School where he was classmates with the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen.
He then went on to study economics at Dhaka University, earning his BA Honours in 1955 and MA in 1956. His career as an academic began at the Dhaka University where he first taught from 1957 to 1959.
Prof Rahman then left to further his education at Harvard University in the United States, where he received his PhD in economics in 1962.
He is known for his significant contribution during 1971, and for serving as a member of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, where he proposed and advocated for austerity measures to help the country recover from the Liberation War.
He then served as the Chairman of the Economics Department at Dhaka University and Senior Research Officer for the 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.
In addition to his prolific professional activities, Prof Rahman was also a talented Tagore exponent and researcher. He became a strong advocate for people's self-development and participatory action research, while pursuing his passion for music.
For his contribution to Rabindranath Tagore's music and literature, Professor Rahman was awarded the Rabindra Puraskar in 2004.
Several organizations including Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and its Director General, Dr Syed Jamil Ahmed, shared profound condolences about the eminent icon's demise.