By Mukto-Mona Editor
Bangla Academy Fellowship 2008 award bestowed on Prof. Ajoy Roy
Mukto-Mona Moderation Board
This is another good news for Mukto-Mona family since we received prestigious Jahanara Imam Memorial Medal last year. This time Prof. Ajoy Roy, the honorary member of the advisory board of Mukto-Mona, achieved the Bangla Academy Fellowship award. On the occasion of 522nd day of establishment of Bangla Academy in a function held on December 3, 2008 the Bangla Academy President bestowed on Prof. Ajoy Roy, the highest honor, the Honorary Fellowship of Bangla Academy. He was awarded the highest honor of Fellowship for life for making significant contribution in scientific & academic research and in education.
This award is one of the highest National Awards in Bangladesh offered to the person(s) each year in recognition of their creative genius in consideration of their overall contribution in three distinctive fields including the field of research in science. The award reads:
| The Bangla Academy Honourary Fellowship 2008 was awarded to Professor Ajoy Roy in recognition of his total contribution in Scientific and Academic research. | |
|---|---|
| 19th Agrahayan, 1415 | |
| 3rd December 2008 | Sayed Mohammad Shahed Director General |
Prof. Ajoy K. Roy has been working as an honorary member of Mukto-Mona since its foundation on May 26, 2001. He has been actively protesting all kinds human rights violations through national and International platforms through MM and beyond. Some of our senior MM-members may remember, when the communal forces in 2001 let loose by the Khaleda-Nizami by its persecution on minorities of Bangladesh such as killings, lootings, setting of fire on houses and professional establishments, destruction and violation of sanctity of places of worships set historical example, Prof. Ajoy Roy stood against the evil forces in collaboration with country's secular forces with local Muktomonas. They built up a strong movement against the evil forces of communalism and fundamentalism under the banner 'Committee for Preservation of Citizens' Rights and Resistance to Communalism'. The Committee formed a 'Public Inquiry Commission' with Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiq as its chairman, which published its report in December 2002 that was immediately publicized through out the world through our site. There have been noteworthy acknowledgements of Mukto Mona's achievements because of Prof Ajoy Roy who participated in a discussion on fundamentalism in the British Parliament on invitation. He also worked as a key figure on several other projects of Mukto-Mona including supporting the Humayun Azad Foundation and helping secular journalists with medical treatment etc. Prof. Ajoy Roy was also the key figure of our very successful Roumari Project - when Bangladesh was submerged under water during 2004 flood season, Mukto-Mona advisory board decided to spend the money in after flood rehabilitation program to reconstruct a school in Roumari, a remote village in Kurigram. The project brought an immense success. He also arranged couple of successful seminars including a seminar on "Origin of Life and Evolution", Seminar on Giordano Bruno, daylong Conference on Einstein [Part-1 | Part-2 | Part-3] on behalf of Mukto-Mona and Shiksa Andolon Mancha to promote science and rationalism in our country. When The Ghatak dalal nirmul kamiti had awarded Shahid Janani Jahanara Imam Smiriti Padak (Memorial Medal) to Muktomona in recognition of its significant contribution in humanists work and work against fundamentalism, Prof. Ajoy Roy was invited quite reasonably, to deliver his key-note speech on receiving the Medal. He is also the editor of the our Bengali journal Muktanwessa, and the author of two Bengali Books "Aadi Bangalee" and "Jorer Shondhane". He was also chosen to be one of the editors for 'Bangla Academy Biggan Kosh' (5 volumes) from Bangla Academy, and the director of mukto-mona book project, 'Swatantra Bhabna'.
Dr. Ajoy Roy among the school children when MM rehabilitation project was just undertaken. (ref, full report)
Besides his activities in MM platform, Prof. Ajoy Roy is known as a reputed scientist of high esteem and a popular columnist who studied in Bangladesh and in UK and took his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Leeds University. With his initiative an advanced center of Solid State Physics and crystallography was established in 1969 under the sponsorship of UNESCO. His work led to the discovery of some fundamental process in radiation chemistry of aliphatic and amino acids and their salts. The process of dissociative electron capture and the subsequent fate of electron is considered to be his major contribution as a scientist. He has been invited twice by the Nobel committee to nominate candidates for Nobel prize in 1998 and in 2001. Socially conscious Prof. Roy, since his student life, participated in all progressive movements including Language movement of 1952, Mass Movement in 1969, and Non Co-operation movement of 1970 --all these finally culminated in his participation in the 1971 War of Liberation of Bangladesh as a freedom fighter. After Liberation Prof. Roy was the General Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh in the 1972-73 period, succeeding Dr. Ahmed Sharif. Prof. Roy, as a secular democrat believes in rationalism, humanism and secularism. Recent Bangla Academy Fellowship award is just another feather in his cap.
We congratulate Prof. Roy for his ongoing success on behalf of MuktoMona!