A Short Biography of
Abul Barkat, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Economics
University of Dhaka
Dr. Abul Barkat (57) Ph.D (Development Economics), is a Professor, Economics Department, University of Dhaka. He has joined the Economics Department, University of Dhaka in 1982, immediately after his very successful completion of Ph.D. Since then, he has produced over 370 high quality research works including 17 research-based books, 84 journal articles, 158 monographs, and 117 papers for national and international conferences. Professor Barkat's research interest, thoughts and writings cover wide spectrum of development discourse: Economic development; human development; human right and women's right; fundamentalism and secularism; right to development of the religious minorities and indigenous peoples; land and water right; policy research in healthpopulation, nutrition; health-population-education and poverty reduction nexus; globalization and development; electricity and poverty reduction; energy and human development; national budget and poverty; diseases of poverty; welfare economics; microfinance and right to credit and development; socio-economic consequences of arsenic poisoning in drinking water; urbanization, landlessness and rural poverty; population projection; youth poverty; poverty among older people; infrastructure economics; energizing Millennium Development Goals; and so on.
In Bangladesh, Dr. Barkat is regarded as one of the most reputed politicaleconomists in the fields of economic development, human development, energy-electricity and poverty analysis; one of the most influential civil society personalities; one of the most prominent media personalities. He is one of the most widely known and respected personalities in Bangladesh. He has earned such reputation through his hardwork-based search for objective truth in the social, economic and political life in Bangladesh.
In the academia, in civil society, and among mass people - Professor Barkat's high positive image is unparallel and unprecedented for his age in the contemporary Bangladesh. This can be attributed to the following, among others:
First: His pioneering and groundbreaking research works (published as books) dealing with human deprivation, poverty, exclusion, and rights-based development. To cite a few: (1) "An Inquiry into Causes and Consequences of Deprivation of Hindu Minorities in Bangladesh through the Vested Property Act" (published in 2000), which has been instrumental in annulment of the inhuman Vested Property Act through which 5 million Hindu population have lost two million of acres of land property (Act continued for long 35 years). Because of this research book Professor Barkat's life was threatened by the grabbers of the Hindu properties; (2) "Political Economy of Khas Land in Bangladesh" (published in 2001), which was instrumental in the revival of the need for the land and agrarian reform in Bangladesh (following the publication of the book, the Parliamentarian Standing Committee on Land was formed and activated); (3) "Poverty and Access to Land in Bangladesh" (published in 2003) which argued developmental implications of poor people's (including indigenous peoples and women) access to land and water bodies; (4) "Political Economy of Land Litigation in Bangladesh : A Case of Colossal National Wastage" (published in 2004), which has been instrumental in policy makers rethinking about the necessity to change the colonial land laws and misgovernance of land management and administration to minimize the human distress due to land litigation; (5) “Charland in Bangladesh: Political Economy of Ignored Resources” (published in 2007); (6) “Deprivation of Hindu Minority in Banglaesh: Living with Vested Property”, and (7) “Development as Conscientization”, which is a pathbreaking work arguing development as inclusion of the excluded substantiated with empirical evidences. Dr. Barkat’s most recent research based book published in 2011 is “Political Economy of Madrassa Education in Bangladesh: Genesis, Growth and Impact” is a new pathbreaking work on the issue of religion based education system. In recognition of his groundbreaking research works in economic sciences, Dr. Barkat received many awards, the most recent being the Justice Ibrahim Memorial Gold Medal awarded by the Dhaka University.
Second: Dr. Barkat is highly respected for his inherent power of observation of emerging issues having far reaching consequences, and more so, for his real participation in the change-process itself. He is the first economist to study the social and economic consequences of arsenic poisoning in drinking water; he came-up with the conclusion that "arsenicosis is a diseases of poverty". He is the president of Human Potentials Development Centre, a leading non-governmental organization, which has pioneered the innovation of low cost indigenous arsenic filtration technology – the Sono Filter, which received the 2007 – Million-Dollar Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability awarded by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE/USA). This organization has already distributed over 500,000 such filtration units to the arsenic affected poor households in Bangladesh. Another example worth citing, is his concern about the rural-push migration in Bangladesh. He argues "urbanization as nothing but slumization, or ruralization of urban life". His search for the root cause pushed him to become an ardent advocator for land-agrarian-aquarian reform in Bangladesh. Many of the land right NGOs and political forces now follow his arguments in their grass-roots work. The same applies to his path-breaking works on need for electricity in rural poor households; need to address the growing youth poverty in Bangladesh; and the need for designing and implementing sustainable policies for the older people in Bangladesh. His major works in the field of demography and population projection are being used by the government and UN bodies in their planning and policy making endeavors. His works are widely quoted in the diverse fields ranging between corruption-blackmoney-mis-governance-investment climate and adolescent reproductive health, maternal-child health, energy-electricity, and energy security and cooperation. One single person endowed with so much of encyclopaedic knowledge in such diverse fields who is at the same time a practitioner- is a rarity in Bangladesh.
Third: Dr. Barkat's restless and uncompromising fight against the rise of religious fundamentalism - through his research works, news paper columns, TV talks, and public speeches - has been instrumental in instituting the deep sense of secularism and democracy among the freedom-loving intellectuals, students, young people, commoners, and all progressive people in the country. He has earned so much of reputation that his opinions are valued even by his ideological opponents.
Fourth: Dr. Barkat is associated with the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) - the most powerful civil society body. He was the four time elected General Secretary of BEA. As the General Secretary of the BEA, during the last 10 years, he has raised the image of the BEA to a new height. On 15th September 2012, Dr. Barkat has been elected as the President of Bangladesh Economic Association for the 2nd term. On 15th September 2009, he has been appointed as Chairman, Janata Bank Limited – the 2nd largest state-owned commercial bank in Bangladesh.
Fifth: Dr. Barkat is the first economist in Bangladesh who, some fifteen years back, started talking about the emerging economic and political criminalization of Bangladesh, and signaled about the erosion of democracy and possibilities of rise of anti-secular forces in Bangladesh. Today, we all echo the same, but he could foresee the evils much before all of us. He is unanimously regarded as the founder of the relevant theoretical constructs pertaining to criminalization, briberization and corruptionalization of economy and politics in Bangladesh. Not only this, he is an ardent promoter of the thesis of need for a "concerted efforts of the democratic political forces and civil society to uphold/restore freedom-mediated development" in Bangladesh. In this regard, he must be seen as a true leader because, by now, he has millions of followers among all walks of people.
Dr. Barkat strongly regards human development as human right and a freedom mediated process, and therefore, in all his endeavor stresses on ethical and moral dimensions of human development. His active participation in civil society activities aims at promotion of "inclusion of excluded in the process of development" and acceleration of substantive freedoms as both means and end of human development. Dr. Barkat is not only an ideal teacher for his students; his name has become a household name in Bangladesh as a personality whose opinions on social-economic-political developmental issues must be trusted and valued for his inherent strong reasoning. Dr. Barkat is a people's person, and therefore, his life will continue to be in danger. Professor Barkat is a wise noble man, and a brave personality.
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