Md. Anisur Rahman

Md. Anisur Rahman Born in Bangladesh (1933) Professor Muhammad Anisur Rahman was trained in Economics at Dhaka University and Harvard University. Initially a theoretical economist he taught at Dhaka University and Islamabad University at Rawalpindi. As traced in this book, after independence of Bangladesh Anisur Rahman transcended the boundaries of economics to become a “student of life”. Since then he has been advocating “people’s self-development” challenging conventional top-down development thinking. He joined the international Labour office in Geneva in 1977 to initiate and direct a global programme on “Participatory Organizations of the Rural Poor” providing a leadership in the theoretical and practical articulation of Participatory Action Research (PAR). He retired from the ILO in 1990 and has been instrumental in introducing and promoting PAR in Bangladesh through “Research Initiatives-Bangladesh” (RIB), a research-funding agency, as one of the honorary founding Members of its Board of Directors. Singing Tagore’s songs is Anisur Rahman’s principal aesthetic pursuit in which he was distinguished himself with a distinctive style of his own. He has been writing on Tagore singing and also giving workshops and lectures in Bangladesh and in Kolkata and Santiniketan on developing one’s singing voice following modern vocal science. Anisur Rahman was awarded the biennial “Rabindra Purashkar” (Rabindra prize) by the Rabindra Parishad of Patna, Bihar, India, in May 2004 for his contribution to Tagore’s music and literature.