Wednesday was the 25th death anniversary of famous sociologist and head of the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development founder Akhtar Hamid Khan.
On the occasion, special prayers were held at the BARD mosque, said a press release.
BARD director general Saif Uddin Ahmed laid a wreath on behalf of the officials at his mural on the BARD premises.
Akhtar Hamid Khan鈥檚 contribution to inventing effective models of rural development has received international recognition in the sixties. BARD gained world fame for the Cumilla model of rural development pioneered under Khan鈥檚 leadership.
Akhtar Hamid Khan was born on July 15 in 1914 at Agra in India. He obtained MA in English literature in 1934 from Agra University in India. After receiving this degree, he joined the highly respected Indian Civil Service under the then British rule.
He studied at Magdeline College under Cambridge University in England in 1936-38 as an ICS trainee officer. Protesting at the inhumane attitude of the British colonial administration in dealing with the terrible famine of 1943, he resigned from the civil service in 1944 and worked as a laborer in a village at Aligarh in India for two years.
Then from 1947 he worked as a teacher at Jamia Millia in Delhi for three years, said a press release.
In 1950, he joined Cumilla Victoria College as principal. In 1954-55, he was appointed on deputation as the director of the 鈥榁-Aid鈥� programme of the East Pakistan government.
In 1958, he went to Michigan State University to gain experience in rural development. From there he joined Pakistan Rural Development Academy (now BARD) as its first chief executive.
Later, he also served as the vice-president of the Board of Directors of the academy for several years. He died on October 9 in 1999.
