Dhaka, April 19 -- uprising reform drive has largely fallen short of its promise, undermined by a lack of political vision, weak institutional capacity, and the enduring grip of vested interests, a leading economist said Sunday, delivering a sweeping assessment of the country's reform trajectory from independence to the present day.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), made the remarks while presenting a keynote paper titled 'Romancing the Reform: The Bangladesh Story' at the 9th SANEM Annual Economists' Conference (9SAEC) 2026, organised by the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) in Mohakhali.

Opening his presentation, Dr Bhattacharya observed that the word "reform" has beco...