Draft:Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed

Profile of Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed is a former Editor of ‘Bangladesh Quarterly’, ‘Bangladesh News-Fortnightly’ and ‘Monthly Nabarun’, published by the Department of Films and Publications, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was awarded PhD by the Institute of Bangladesh Studies, University of Rajshahi for his dissertation titled 'Administrative Corruption in the Delivery of Services: A Behavioural Study of 10 Sectors in Dhaka City'. He was born in Fulgazi upazila of Feni district on 17 July 1960, lost his mother Firoza Begum in Islamabad, Pakistan on 3 March 1971 while his father Dr Saifuddin Ahmed was serving as an Assistant Education Adviser in the then central Ministry of Education. He served as a civil servant belonging to the 1984 batch of Bangladesh Civil Service, and took voluntary retirement in August 2016 three years in advance while serving as an Additional Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh. He had a distinguished career in the civil service, serving as the Assistant Press Secretary to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh (1993-95), Deputy Press Secretary to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh (2005-06), Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser of the caretaker government in Bangladesh (2007-08), attachment to the Cabinet Division as Joint Secretary (2011-14), Joint Secretary in charge of Bengali language implementation cell of the Ministry of Public Administration (2014-15) and finally as Additional Secretary in charge of reform, research and law wing of the Ministry of Public Administration before retirement. After retirement, he served as an Editorial Consultant of The Financial Express during 2018, and has been writing as a contributor cum columnist of the daily since 2012. He has also been working as a freelance translator since 1997, and as a translator cum editor for renowned organizations like the FBCCI, FAO and PKSF since 2022. He has a number of publications to his credit including 'Ballads from Bangladesh', ‘Bangladesh: Basic Facts’, ‘Bangladesh at a Glance’, ‘Prachin China Darshan: Laozi O Confucius’ (Ancient Chinese Philosophy: Laozi and Confucius), ‘Arabder Itihash’ (History of the Arabs, translation), ‘Ostrovsky'r Natok’ (Plays by Ostrovsky, translation), Oriental Tales: Selected Bangla Fiction (translator cum compiler), An Anthology of Bangla Poems (1947-2015) (translator cum editor), Administrative Corruption in Bangladesh: A Behavioural Study, and Corruption in Bangladesh: Causes, Costs and Remedies. He has been translating Bengali poems, fictions and essays for over three decades and has also written a few himself. His limericks were awarded top prize by the New Age literature page and one of his poems (Never-ending Tale) was included in the English literature course of Radiant International School, Dhaka. His articles and essays have been published in renowned international periodicals including the now-defunct Far Eastern Economic Review of Hong Kong, Business Times of Singapore, Financial Times of the UK, New York Times of the USA, China Daily of PRC, Mainichi Shimbun of Japan, Korea Times of the Republic of Korea, Saudi Gazette and Arab News of Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf Times of UAE. He is a life member of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Economic Association, Bangla Academy, and Transparency International Bangladesh. He i married to Syeda Kishwar Sultana (Ujala) since 1987, and has one daughter (Hridita) and a son (Rasha).