Bangabandhu and insurance sector

development
 Jasim Uddin Haroon |  March 01, 2020 00:00:00

The table, the typewriter and the almirah seen in picture were used by Father of the Nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman while he worked as the head of business promotion at
the Alpha Insurance Company at the Bangabandhu Avenue Office. These articles are being
preserved at the Head Office of the Sadharan Bima Corporation at Dilkusha Commercial Area in
Dhaka.

During the 1960 martial law across the country (then East Pakistan),
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman joined the Alpha Insurance
Company. The Father of the Nation joined the insurance company as the
chief of business promotion. He also received his first salary from the
insurer in April 1960.

Close relatives of Bangabandhu said he used to sit at the Alpha

Insurance's Bangabandhu Avenue office. This building now belongs to the
state-owned Sadharan Bima Corporation (SBC).

Unearthing the true history of how and when he joined the company was
not an easy task. There were very hard efforts made by some close
relatives and well-wishers to unearth it. Mr NI Khan, the curator of
Bangabandhu Museum, had played a significant role in this. Mr Sheikh
Kabir Hossain, currently president of Bangladesh Insurance Association,
also played an important role in this regard. The government's law
enforcing agencies had a record on the joining date.

However, Bangabandhu's job in the insurance firm has left a great impact
on the insurance sector. Bangabandhu made a revolutionary decision to
develop the insurance sector after independence of Bangladesh.

Bangabandhu first invited Bangladeshi-born actuary Mr Shafat Ahmed

Chowdhury. Mr Chowdhury was then staying and working in London. Mr
Chowdhury responded positively to the call of Bangabandhu and returned
home immediately to become the first actuary of independent Bangladesh.

After return from London, Bangabandhu made Mr Shafat Ahmed actuary,

the first controller of the department of insurance. He had later laid the
founding stone of the insurance sector under the guidance of
Bangabandhu. During 1980s, Mr Shafat later established the Delta Life
Insurance Company in the private sector. He is the pioneer of micro
insurance in the country. He is no more with us. The Insurance
Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), however, has selected him
for awarding the first gold medal posthumous today at the Bangabandhu
International Conference Centre in the city.

People having knowledge of the sector said the decision of the Father of
the Nation to pick Mr Shafat for this important job was very brilliant as the
insurance personality later contributed immensely to the country's
insurance sector.

The reform in the sector after the Independence was carried out by Mr
Shafat under the leadership of Bangabandhu. It was easy for Mr Shafat to
carry out the reform as he had thorough knowledge of the sector.

Relatives said Bangabandhu's joining the Alpha Insurance was merely a

political strategy as politics was almost restricted in the country that time.

"Bangabandhu used to meet with the fellow political activists and give
different political messages to the people sitting in the Alpha office," said
Sheikh Kabir Hossain recently at his Panthapath office in the city. He also
said: "Even I met him several times at the office."

Bangabandhu also played an important role in categorising the institutions

into life and non-life. Earlier, one insurance company used to provide both
services under one roof. The Sadharan Bima Corporation Act and the
Jiban Bima Corporation Act were prepared and passed under the
leadership of Bangabandhu.

However, daughter of Bangabandhu and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina was also influenced by what her father did. She during her first
term in power from 1996 to 2001 gave licences for operation of insurance
business in the private sector. The insurance firms are now mature
enough and have been making an important contribution to insurance
penetration and gross domestic product growth (GDP).

After assuming power in 2009, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government

passed the Insurance Act 2010 and the Insurance Development and
Regulatory Authority (IDRA) Act. Earlier the insurance business was being
run under the Insurance Act of 1938 and the rules of 1956.

She also appointed another actuary Mr Shefaque Ahmed the first head of
the IDRA in 2011. Mr Ahmed had served as IDRA chairman for two
consecutive terms.

The Parliament recently passed new corporation laws for the Sadharan
Bima Corporation and the Jiban Bima Corporation under the leadership of
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

jasimharoon@yahoo.com