Equal respect for every marginalised community's voice needed: Dr Zillur

FE REPORT

A country's transition to democracy depends on ensuring the presence and equal respect for the voice of every marginalised community, says Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, an eminent economist and chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC).

Access to information is a powerful tool that can effectively empower and inform these communities, facilitating their active and meaningful participation in the democratic process, he says.

He made the remarks on Wednesday at the unveiling ceremony of the Society for Environment and Human Development's (SEHD) latest publication titled "Report and Analysis: Marginalised and Excluded Communities of Bangladesh".

At the event held at the CIRDAP Auditorium in the capital, the documentary Jatpater Boli on the Kaiputra and the Rishis was also premiered.

SEHD, together with Brattyajan Resource Centre (BRC) and PPRC, organised the programme.

Speaking about SEHD's continuous work for more than three decades, Dr Rahman, who chaired the event, said the organisation had been working since its inception with these three-dimensional objectives in mind - recognition, inclusion, and respect for marginalised communities.

Philip Gain, director of SEHD, presented the keynote at the function.

Distinguished guests and speakers attending the event included Prashanta Tripura, country director of The Hunger Project and a former professor at Jahangirnagar University; Dr Zakir Hossain Raju, a professor at Independent University, Bangladesh; and Mohammad Abdul Wazed, a former director general of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

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