Gazette Update: A short biography of Palan Sarkar

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

A short biography of Palan Sarkar

Palan Sarkar was born in Bagatipara village of Natore district on September 9, 1921. His birth name was Harez Uddin Sarkar. But since his birth, his mother used to call him “Palan”. His father Hayat Ullah Sarkar died when he was only five months old. After studying till class four, he stopped studying because of financial problem. Then his maternal grandfather Moyen Uddin Sarkar brought Palan Sarkar along with his mother Moifun Nessa in his own house at Bausha village in Bagha upazila of Rajshahi. There he took admission in a school where there was no scope of studying after class six. After completing studies till class six, Palan Sarkar brought an end to his academic education. But he cultivated the habit of reading books.

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Palan Sarkar’s grandfather Moyen Uddin Sarkar was a local small landlord. At first, he used to collect tax for his grandfather’s landed property. The zamindari system was abolished after the partition of the country. Then he got the job of a tax collector in Bausha union in 1962. He inherited 40 bighas of land from his grandfather. He joined a Jatra or local theater group during the British period. He used to perform the role of a jester. He also used to copy the manuscript of the plays by hand. On the other hand, he would tell the actors dialogue from behind the stage. In this way, his hobby of reading books grew. For a long time, he performed the role of chairman of the board of directors of Harun-ar-Rashid High School. In 1965, after donating 52 Shotangsho of land during the establishment of the school, Palan Sarkar was elected chairman at the request of local people. He has a rice mill in Bausha bazar.

Palan Sarkar used to give books as gift to those who earned the first ten places on the merit list in their respective classes in Bausha Harun-ar-Rashid High School since 1990. After that, when other students also insisted on him getting books, he decided that he would give them books too, but they would have to return the books. Then village people also started asking him for books. This was the beginning of his movement of reading books. In 1992, having being diagnosed with diabetes, Palan Sarkar had to grow the habit of walking. At that time, a new idea came to his mind.

He broke the tradition of distributing books centered on school and decided to deliver and take back the books by physically visiting them. In marriage ceremonies, he would present books along with other gifts. Besides, he also gave books to those who paid their debts in his rice mill. In 2009, the Rajshahi District Council established a library in his courtyard.

At first, people of some villages at Bagha upazila of Rajshahi came to know about this outstanding education movement of Palan Sarkar. On December 29, 2006, Palan Sarkar was portrayed as an enlightened person in an episode of Ityadi, a popular magazine program on state-owned television channel BTV. Later on February 17, 2007, a cover report was published on him in the Shamoyiki section of Chutir Dine of the first-lined daily newspaper, Prothom Alo. The title of the report was “Distributing books for free”. Since then he got recognition across the country.

In 2011, he received Ekushey Padak, the country’s second highest civilian award, for his contribution to the society. On September 20, 2014, on the occasion of ‘Impact Journalism Day’, a report was published on him on the daily newspapers of various languages around the world. Golam Sarwar Dodul made an Eid drama ‘Obodan’ for BTV based on his life story. Unilever Bangladesh awarded him with the title ‘White-hearted human being’ for creating the interest of reading books among the people by distributing books for free.

On March 1, 2019, at the age of 98, Palan Sarkar died at his village home. At that time, he was surrounded by his family members. According to his son, Haider Ali, the legendary person had been suffering from old-age related complications. His departure was a great loss for our society. It is really hard to get such a benevolent person in this materialistic world. May his soul rest in peace.