[The Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) Prof. Dr.
Muhammed Hussain was killed in a tragic road accident on the
Dhaka-Chittagong highway on 4 February morning. The whole nation was
shocked at the sudden and untimely demise of an eminent educationist and
brilliant scientist of his stature. With him the country lost a great
humanist, a progressive intelligentsia, and a man of strong commitment-
whose life-long endeavour had been directed towards advancement of
agricultural education and research of Bangladesh. This note of salutation
in memory of late Prof. Hussain was presented in a condolence meeting
held recently at BAU campus.]
In a drizzly winter morning he rushed into an unknown land covered with
dense fog and was lost for ever. Instantaneously he was taken to a
pinnacle where no call or outcry of the nearest and dearest ones could
ever reach. A tragic road accident had snatched away his life turning his
mundane body motionless and still. One who always so intensely liked to go
ahead in order to get hold of truth and beauty in himself. One who
believed so earnestly that the human life was nothing but going ahead to
illumine one's own existence and surroundings. And he had thus built for
us a new road by focusing light on the darkness of our social perception
and conscience. It was he who dragged us on the road to light. But, alas,
our guide is no more today.
Prof. Dr. Muhammed Hussain is no more with us.
He was our beloved Vice-Chancellor, our reverend teacher and mentor, our
trusted friend, philosopher and guide. This man with a great heart is no
more amidst us. He has set a new ideal before us by investing the best
hours of his life for furtherance of this noble institution Bangladesh
Agricultural University (BAU) since its inception. This lion-hearted man
with his surging zeal of a missionary is all on a sudden lost for ever
plunging all of us into a deep sea of sorrow and pain. Prof. Hussain will
never come back amidst us, yet we all feel today his glittering presence
in the core of our heart.
Born on 16 August 1939, he came of a noble
muslim family of the village Barabkund-Mahmudabad under Sitakund thana of
Chittagong district. He was the second child of his father Mvi. Emdadul
Haque and mother Mst. Hazera Khatun. During his childhood he proved
himself to be a meritorious and assiduous student and was awarded
scholarship. While in school he took active part in the language movement
and thus had the first lessons of patriotism. All along his life he
adhered to a conscience based on a triad of Bangla language, Bangalee
nationhood and Bangladesh which had added to his personality a new
dimension and dignity. In course of time he turned out to be a living
symbol of non-sectarianism and humanism based on the ideals of language
movement and the great war of liberation. He got scholarship in
recognition of his brilliant result in I.Sc. examination of 1956 and as
recipient of faculty scholarship he obtained the degrees of B.Sc. and
M.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Dhaka in 1958 and 1960
respectively. Later in 1967, he was conferred Ph.D. degree of the Texas A
& M University. It may be mentioned here that the President of Texas A &M
University had honored him with the best foreign student leadership award
in 1965.
The Bangladesh Agricultural University came into being in the
month of September 1961 and its recruitment process of new teachers began
in the month of January 1962 -- when Prof. Hussain joined as the first
Lecturer in Biochemistry of this University. The department of
Biochemistry at BAU was as good as the inseparable part of his life and he
made tremendous contributions to all phases of its growth and development.
Very rightly he often liked himself to be known as the father of
biochemistry at this University. He was promoted to the rank of Assistant
Professor on 22 February 1967, that of Associate Professor on 27 June 1970
and Professor on 21 May 1977 in the same department.
Prior to taking over
of the office of Vice-Chancellor, BAU he served the University in various
capacities as Head of the department of Biochemistry, Dean of the Faculty
of Agriculture, Provost of Shaheed Shamsul Haque Hall, Convenor, Council
of Deans, Member of the Selection Committee for appointment of Professors
and Associate Professors and so on. Prof. Hussain had the inborn
leadership quality much needed to steer an organization. He was President
of BAU Teachers' Association twice, Vice-President of University Teachers'
Association Federation, Executive Vice-President of BAU Club and President
of Ganotantrik Teachers' Forum, BAU. He also played key role in organizing
extracurricular activities of the University and acted as Treasurer of
BAUCSU, President of Sangeet Sangha and President of Science Club of TSC.
Besides, he was the founder-president of Debaters' Forum and Shatabdi, a
socio-cultural organization of BAU. He had played a pioneering role in
organizing a Science Club named as 'Anusandhani' and he took personal care
in the publication of 'Niriksha' - a popular scientific journal.
As an ardent follower of the ideals of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he played the vital role in protecting and
upholding the values derived from the great war of liberation, and he had
been the Chief Patron of the BAU command unit of Bangladesh Muktijoddha
Sangsad.
Prof. Hussain was an internationally reputed biochemist and
applied nutritionist who had enriched these disciplines by undertaking a
series of basic and applied research. He worked at the University of
Hawaii as the United Nations University Fellow, at the Nottingham
University as a Commonwealth Staff Fellow and at the NDRI, Haryana as the
IARI Visiting Scientist. He was team leader of the Bangladesh-Belgium
collaborative research project on Lathyrus and Lathyrism. Besides, he
conducted a number of research projects on crop cultivars like lathyrus,
blackgram, aroids, sweet potato and HYV rice and succeeded in making
tremendous contributions to the development of a few high yielding
cultivars of sweet potato, aroids and rice. On a number of occasions he
visited many universities and research institutes of USA, UK, Belgium,
Canada, New Zealand, Ethiopia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Pakistan
and India. He has to his credit a total of 50 research publications.
Besides, he has written a large number of essays on education and popular
science all published in various magazines and national dailies. He is
author of a book entitled 'Sabji Theke Pusti' (Nutrients from vegetables)
and editor of the 'Brochure on the Faculty of Agriculture, BAU.'
Since his
taking over of the office of the Vice-Chancellor in November 1996, quite a
good number of development activities were completed including holding of
two Convocations - the Forth General Convocation on 20 December 1997 and
the First Special Convocation on 18 April 1998 in which the Nobel Laureate
Scientist Dr. Norman E. Borlaug was conferred the Degree of D.Sc. (honoris
causa). With the holding of elections of BAU Central Students' Union and
the hall unions the extracurricular activities of the University were
geared up. He believed in the theory of survival of the fittest. He felt
it urgently that the academic and research programmes of BAU should be so
redesigned as to meet the challenges of 21st century. His thoughts and
actions had always been around BAU and its speedy development and
enrichment. In order to attain these goals he took personal initiatives in
establishing linkage programmes for BAU and had signed MOUs with the
following Universities : Texas A &M University, Brooklyn College and
Research Foundation of the City College, New York, The Richard Stockton
College of New Jersey, Ghent University of Belgium, University of Sindh
and Sindh Agricultural University of Pakistan, Olds College, Canada,
Agricultural University of Hebei, China, Nagoya University of Japan, King
Mongkuts' University of Technology, Thailand and Chonbuk National
University, Korea.
His long-cherished dream was to establish of a central
research laboratory and to equip it with the latest facilities where
research on genetic engineering and biotechnology could be conducted in a
planned manner. He fought for it relentlessly and succeeded in getting
necessary allocations from the government. The University has meanwhile
accorded approval to institute the department of Genetic Engineering and
Technology under the Faculty of Agriculture and the Department of Computer
Science and Information Technology under the Faculty of Agricultural
Engineering & Technology. A brochure in English language under the title
"BAU : An Information' containing information on academic and research
programmes of the University was published under his direct supervision.
Establishment of an agricultural museum has already been included in the
University development program. Construction of the sculpture of freedom
fighters named as 'Sonar Bangla' is almost completed. Very recently the
BAU library has been connected with internet web-site.
It needs to be
especially mentioned here that during his period as Vice-Chancellor, the
routine-wise academic classes and examinations were held regularly and the
University did not have any experience of unscheduled closure for a single
day. Prof. Hussain, a man of vision and mission, had many dreams in his
mind with regard to the development of this University. Of these, quite a
few are yet to be materialized. He wanted to develop a 20-minute video
film highlighting the academic and research activities of BAU. He also
extended his hand in making a few souvenirs engraved with BAU's name and
monogram. He used to call this evergreen campus as the exquisitely
beautiful daughter of nature. And he continued all his efforts to add to
her beauty.
Prof. Hussain was out and out a teacher of uncommon qualities.
His fatherly disposition had made him dear to friends and colleagues alike
and specially he was highly popular amongst his students. Although he had
to pass very busy hours in looking into the routine affairs of the
university as its Vice-Chancellor, he never missed taking classes,
conducting research projects or supervising research-works of Ph.D
students.
Prof. Hussain as the convenor of the sub-committee on
agricultural education of the Committee for formulation of National
Education Policy made significant contributions to the formulation of
effective policy-guidelines relating to higher agricultural education and
research to meet the challenges of the new millennium. He also played
vital role in strengthening the process of agricultural research and
development of Bangladesh as member of Board of Governors of various
research institutions under the national agricultural research system
(NARS).
He was cordial, kind-hearted and highly sociable person and he
enjoyed diffusing his spirit amongst all. A large-hearted man he was and
he knew best to honour and appreciate the talented ones. He always tried
to enrich himself through regular studies and was a passionate reader of
the literary works of Tagore, Nazrul and Jibanananda Das. He had easy
access to all branches of knowledge, be it social, literary, philosophical
or scientific works. So, whoever had an opportunity to come to his
personal contact felt simply enchanted by his attracting personality. His
speeches used to make all of them spell-bound. In fact, his pursuit of
knowledge had always been directed to human welfare. The ideals that have
been set before us by Prof. Hussain as a committed teacher, as the most
successful academic executive and above all, as an honest, pious and
courageous individual will go a long way to inspire us in the days to
come.
The whole country including Mymensingh and Sitakund had at once been
stunned at the unfortunate death news of our beloved Vice-Chancellor on 4
February. Elaborate programmes of condolence were chalked out
simultaneously at BAU, Sitakund and BSMR Agricultural University, Salna.
Condolence messages started pouring in from the honorable President, Prime
Minister, Members of cabinet and chief executives of all universities,
research institutes, professional and socio-cultural organizations and
leaders of all major political parties of the country. We have been
receiving condolence messages from home and abroad till now. His first
namaj-e-janaja was held at Sobhanbag, Dhaka on February 4, the second one
at the BAU campus on 5 February and the last one at the Barabkund High
School premises on 7 February. He was laid to eternal rest at the family
graveyard of his home-village Barabkund-Mahmudabad in presence of a large
number of tearful and grief-stricken friends, realtives, colleagues and
students. We fervently pray to Almighty Allah for His mercy and salvation
of the departed soul.
Prof. Hussain left behind his widow, a son, two
daughters, grand children, and many relatives, colleagues, friends and
students in home and abroad to mourn his death. We pay our highest esteems
and our tearful salutation to this great man of rare qualities.
I look afar :
Lost is the traveler for ever.
His mistress could not keep him, neither the kingdom,
Neither could he be stopped by the ocean or mountain.
His chariot is now moving
At the call of night and Songs of stars
Toward the gate of golden dawn.
So here am I Lying laden with his memory
While the freed one is far away.
[Professor Abdur Razzaque is the Head of the Department of Languages and
Officer on Special Duty, Vice-Chancellor's Secretariat, Bangladesh
Agricultural University, Mymensingh.]