Professor Nurul Islam: A Tribute

Professor Nurul Islam was one of the finest economists from Bangladesh who enjoyed a global reputation as a distinguished personality in his field.

His long professional career in the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations as Director General of the Economic and Social Development Department and subsequently his attachment to the International Food Policy Research Institute [IFPRI] as a senior policy advisor to the Director General and academic assignments in the reputed educational institutions such as London School of Economics, Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge Universities manifest his erudition and insight in academic and policy domain.

Professor Islam completed his Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Dhaka University and did his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He returned to Dhaka after completing his PhD and taught at Dhaka University as a Reader for ten years from 1955 to 1965.

It was a challenge in those days to restructure the economics syllabus, especially in the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international economics. His education at Harvard enhanced the status of the Department. He taught for four to five hours at a stretch as a passionate teacher and helped the students with tutorial classes, as there were only a few teachers in the Economics Department in the late fifties. The Economics Department of Dhaka University was the editorial office of the Pakistan Economic Journal, published by the Pakistan Economic Association.

Dr. M.N. Huda, Professor Nurul Islam, A.F.A. Hossain, Dr. Mazharul Haq, and Professor Abdullah Farooq presented the dual structure of the erstwhile Pakistan Economy in August 1956 at an economic conference. Indeed, his decade-long affiliation with the economics department was instrumental in formulating the Six-Points Programme on the disparity in the crucial macro indicators during its association of 24 years, harnessed through dualism- a term synonymous with the hinterland in the colonial administration.

Professor Nurul Islam was the first Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. He worked wholeheartedly and passionately with the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to reconstruct the war-torn economy and the rehabilitation program. He was the architect of the Planning Commission and the First Five-Year Plan of Bangladesh [1973-78]. The Plan based on an input-output table of 37 sectors with the philosophy of socialism is considered an excellent document in the socio-economic milieu of those days.

In the first chapter of the document, the need for a cadre though philosophical in content, gives a sense of direction on future imperatives. His book, Development Planning in Bangladesh, A Study in Political Economy, published by the University Press Limited, delineated specific menus in the planning domain. “She had no planning machinery to start with. She had not only a young and experienced administration but also a political leadership which, after many years in opposition- first in the struggle for autonomy and then for the independence of Bangladesh, including prison cells in Pakistan -came to occupy the seat of the government.”

The stupendous task and responsibility in the early days of independence could only be done by a patriot who wholeheartedly loved the country.

The First Five-Year Plan suffered a setback midway through the implementation phase; there were disruptions with the cruel murder of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his close family members—the departure of Professor Islam and the other distinguished members of the Planning Commission. The dream of Professor Islam was to endow the Planning Commission with professionalism. It is pertinent to note a few points from his discussion in the book.

First, the political commitment in all stages of the planning process, from the broad outlines to specific sectors integration through projects, meaningful cooperation between the functional or administrative ministries and the Planning Commission. Secondly, the nature of staffing of the planning machinery; those working in the Planning Commission should be given professional incentives and be at par with any elite services.

“ Another hard-learned lesson is that if planning machinery is run by “ outsiders” and if the concept of “ elite” civil service in control of the governmental decision-making machinery dies hard, friction can be avoided only by letting the elite civil service play a predominant role in the planning machinery; being all pervasive and entrenched in the government machinery, they can frustrate the planning machinery if they are bent upon it.

There’s an unavoidable price to pay for expanding the base of experience, including specialized skills, and encouraging mobility between different services and professional groups. [P. 232]. He was explicit in identifying the uncertainty in the planning process. Bangladesh’s political leadership has a clearly defined preference function.

The book is full of insights into the future roadmap of planning machinery and the urgency of political commitment. For example, “Even the formulation of the First Five-Year Plan did not become nor did the political leadership treat it as an occasion for hard policy choices on specific issues; it was treated more as a guideline or a framework for decision making in subsequent stages, specifically at the time of preparation of Annual Plans.”

This poverty and chaos in planning philosophy persist in Bangladesh and is subsumed in the merging of the economic cadre with the administration cadre. Professor Nurul Islam endorsed professionalism as essential in the multidimensional paradigm in understanding the path of inclusive development. Unfortunately, the Gini coefficient at 0.50 manifests growing inequality as opposed to the basic philosophy of socialism. “ The election manifesto reiterated the Party’s programme of evolutionary socialism and its faith in economic planning.”

During its five decades, Bangladesh crossed many milestones in its economic endeavor and aspires to be a middle-income country in 2031 gaining the status of a developing country in 2026. However, the path was arduous without a democratic structure. During its three decades of dynamism through good governance in development, a structural break in achievement is discernible and embedded in a new institutional setup.

Professor Islam was buried at George Washington Graveyard in Washington D.C., USA, on May 10, 2023. As a genuine patriot and champion of an independent Bangladesh, we dearly will cherish his contribution.

The writer teaches at BRAC University and BIDS as an adjunct Faculty in the Master’s Programme in Economics. He can be contacted at [email protected].