Eminent economist Professor Rehman Sobhan's memoir, titled "Untranquil Recollections: Political Economy of Nation Building in Post-Liberation Bangladesh", was launched on Saturday.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and The University Press Limited (UPL) jointly organised an event marking the launching of the volume.
The volume, the second one in the Untranquil Recollections series, was published by UPL, reports BSS.
The author mentions in the preface that this volume is a memoir of an activist who was himself a part of the historical process.
This volume captures the unique challenges faced by Bangladesh in the years immediately after the liberation war when Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned to his homeland and assumed the responsibility as the head of the government.
Professor Sobhan sheds light on many challenges that the war-devastated country confronted while establishing new institutions from the ground up.
The newly-set up Planning Commission of Bangladesh, of which Professor Sobhan was an integral part and a key member, was entrusted with the responsibilities of providing guidelines to Bangabandhu in laying the foundations of a socialist economy in Bangladesh.
The book provides a frame narrative as to how the Planning Commission dealt with policy issues, how the political economy played a cut, how the first Five-Year Plan was formulated, and how foreign relationships were built, till the time of the killing of Bangabandhu on August 15, 1975.
The book is divided into 16 chapters featuring various phases of Professor Sobhan's life till 1975.
Professor Rounaq Jahan, Distinguished Fellow of CPD, moderated the launching event.
Dr Kamal Hossain, former law and foreign minister, joined the event as a special guest.
M Syeduzzaman, former finance minister and planning secretary and member of CPD’s Board of Trustees, chaired the event.
Professor Rehman Sobhan, the author of the book and founding Chairman of CPD, recalled some of his practical experiences and obstacles that he and the Planning Commission faced and how Bangabandhu guided them and provided them with political support.
He stated that Bangabandhu was the architect of the policies in the newly emerged country, and they tried to implement his directives.
UPL Managing Director Mahrukh Mohiuddin, CPD’s Distinguished Fellow Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Former Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Department of Economics of Jahangirnagar University Professor Abdul Bayes spoke, among others, on the occasion.