Fifty years ago, when Bangladesh was born as an independent country after terrible civil conflict, some people called it a ‘basket case’. But now the picture is completely different. Now Bangladesh is a rising star, says a recent Foreign Policy story marking the anniversary.

Life expectancy has almost doubled, to 72.6 years. Nearly all Bangladeshi children finish primary school, and its female literacy rate is higher than India’s and much higher than Pakistan’s. Its infant mortality rate is lower than both of its neighours, and its fertility rate has fallen so far that “in a generation, the high population growth that has gone hand in hand with poverty will be no more,” the magazine noted.

And the credit goes almost entirely to civil society, inspired by three men and the organizations that they helped to create. I knew about Muhammad Yunus and Grameen, and about the late Sir Fazal Hasan Abed and BRAC (the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, it was called at its founding, before it shortened its name). But I hadn’t heard of Zafrullah Chowdhury, who pushed to make pharmaceuticals affordable, so I will have to learn more about him. For now, though, I wanted to focus on the first two men, because I know much more about their ‘origin’ stories.