Rehman Sobhan
Rehman Sobhan, a prominent economist, played a significant role in the nationalist movement of
Bangladesh. Professor Sobhan along with other nationalist economists contributed to the drafting of six-points programme that became the basis for the struggle for autonomy in the then East Pakistan. The various writings of the young Cambridge trained economist Sobhan on regional disparity between West Pakistan (present day Pakistan) and East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) played a successful role in fomenting nationalist aspiration. During the liberation war for Bangladesh (
March 26 1971 to
December 16 1971) he was a roving ambassador of Bangladesh lobbying for Bangladesh in the United States. After the independence of Bangladesh he was made a member of the Planning Commission that contributed to the 1974 Bangladesh famine. He was in self-exile after the military coup of August 1975. Upon his return to Bangladesh, he continued to be active in economic research and policy debates first with Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and later he founded the Centre for Policy Dialogue, a leading Think Tank in South Asia. Currently he is the chairman of CPD. CPD contributes on the important policy issues and arranges open public discussions. Mainly its for promoting an effective governance. He authored over two dozens books and numerous articles both in professional journals as well as popular media. He was also made an advisor of the Caretaker Government in Bangladesh in 1990-91.
Professor Sobhan's cohorts at Cambridge included prominent economists of the Indian subcontinent such as Amartya Sen, Manomohan Singh, and Mahbub-ul Haque. Sobhan continues to play an active role in the civil society movement in South Asia. He is a leading public intellectual in Bangladesh.
An order by the high court in Bangladesh to arrest Mr. Rehman Sobhan was passed on the August 10th, 2006 for creating a poverty complex with statistical misinformation to defame the Bangladesh Board of Investment.
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Rehman Sobhan's news at a national daily
