'Banker of the Poor' Wins Nobel Peace

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

'Banker of the Poor' Wins Nobel Peace


Islamonline.net & News Agencies


"It will give a significant amount of energy to the whole movement," said Yunus.

DHAKA — In what many saw as a victory for the fight against poverty, the Nobel Peace prize was given this year to Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank who emerged as the surprise winners of the prestigious prize for their pioneering work in lending to the poor without financial security.

"I think this is a wonderful recognition for our efforts at Grameen Bank, and for all the women who work for us and who have made Grameen Bank a success," Yunus said, expressing his "pride" at winning, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Friday, October 13.

Yunus, 66, started the Grameen Bank over 30 years ago, to provide small loans - micro-credit - for the poor.

In announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel committee said the prize - worth 10m Swedish kronor ($1 million) - was going jointly to Yunus and Grameen Bank for "their efforts to create economic and social development from below".

Bangladesh's first Nobel laureate also said the award would give fresh impetus to his dream of "a poverty-free world."

"It will give a significant amount of energy to the whole movement, I can guarantee you that .. this is just the beginning of it."

Coming from a modest family, the economics professor began fighting poverty during a devastating famine in Bangladesh, setting up the tiny Grameen Bank in 1976 to provide access to credit to people too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans.

Brainchild


Women who took small loans from Grameen Bank gather at a house to pay back their loan installments to a bank officer. (Reuters)

Yunus's brainchild was triggered when he met a woman who made bamboo stools and learnt that after repaying the money-grabbing middleman for raw bamboo each week she was left with only a penny profit.

He compiled a list of 42 such people who suffered similarly at the hands of lenders and learnt the total sum they needed was just 27 dollars. He gave them the money and the "microcredit" bank was born.

Women in particular were targeted for microcredit after Grameen found them to be astute entrepreneurs.

His scheme turns conventional banking norms on their head by not obliging borrowers to offer collateral for a loan and extends the loans based on the desperation of the borrower's plight.

"The less you have, the higher priority you have," he has said.

The Grameen Bank now has more than 6.61 million borrowers, 97 per cent of whom are women. Its borrowers are also the bank's owners.

"With microcredit, you have a boat you can row," he has said repeatedly.

Success Story

Yunus's Grameen bank set out to prove that lending to the poor was not an impossible proposition.

"We took our first loan to buy 20 hens and ducks and if it wasn't for that we would be beggars now," says Roushanara, whose story is one of many proving how the bank helped many to start a successful life.

Roushanara, who used to be a manual laborer, was left penniless with her mother after her father died, the family having earlier lost their home to river erosion.

"My mother and I used to earn 30 taka (50 cents) a day digging earth. Our life was very difficult. We were vagabonds but now we have land, a home and we earn around at least 6,000 taka (100 dollars) a month," she told AFP.

Dilip Kumar Devnat cited his own success story.

"Without loans from Yunus's bank, I would still be a tea boy because I had no way to change my life on my own," he said.

After taking a loan to set up his own tea stall, he took out another to buy a refrigerator and stock cold drinks. Gradually, the stall became a success.

He took a third loan for a mobile phone and is now planning to take a fourth to set up a stationery shop.

Bangladesh is the world third-largest Muslim majority country with a population of some 148 million.

Muslims make up 83% of the population, Hindu 16%, other 1%, according to the CIA World Fact Book.


http://www.islamonline.net/English/N...10/13/06.shtml

[Bittersteel]

yeah I am proud though ....it would have been appropriate to get an award for economics or an humanitarian award.

[AvarAllahNoor]

Great Stuff!

[AFDAL]

Celebrate the Nobel, but…
Dina Nath Mishra
It is matter of celebration and rejoicing for Bangladesh in particular. Bangladesh, which is known for its abject poverty and corruption, a son of the soil — Mohammad Yunus — has been awarded the internationally coveted Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Prize Selection Committee has explained that “Muhammed Yunus of Bangladesh and the Grameen Bank he founded were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their innovative work in the area of microcredits — small loans that have helped to lift millions out of the most abject poverty.’’ Announcing the award, the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee stated: ‘‘Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.’’
In an age when poverty has become a saleable market product as hot as pornography, it is increasingly dominating the sellers’ market. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and a number of big multinationals are taking very keen interest in poverty alleviation programmes through thousands of agencies. One does not know as to what extent poverty has increased by their benevolent and well-publicized programmes. But one thing is certain: that these programmes have not in any way reduced the level of poverty or the number of poor people.
Decades back, I recollect having seen a cartoon divided into two parts. On one part, a western woman was breast- feeding a lean and thin non-white baby. On the other part, two results of feeding were shown — the child turned into a skeleton and the woman turned buxom. Year after year, one can see this breast-feeding western phenomenon and its results in a number of developing countries. As far as Mohd Yunus and his micro-credit dispenser Grameen Bank are concerned, they have been applauded for more than two decades by synchronized and powerful mega-operations. While a number of local newspapers and critics voiced their concern, they had no mega-phone at their command. One Taj Hashmi has tried to explode the myth surrounding the success of the Grameen Bank and Mohd Yunus. But does Hashmi have the credentials? Many people may not agree with the committee’s view and Hashmi is prominent among them. Hashmi is not an ordinary scholar. He has written a dozen research volumes including Women and Islam in Bangladesh, Islam, Muslims and the Modern State and Colonial Bengal. He has the experience of being research associate, York Centre for Asian Research, York University, and visiting professor at the University of British Columbia. He has taught history and ethnography at universities in Singapore, Perth, Australia and Dhaka.
Dr Hashmi observes, “After undertaking my book project to work on Women and Islam in Bangladesh in early 1996, I spent a few months in Bangladeshi villages doing field work, examining the impact the NGOs (mainly Grameen Bank and BRAC) on the poor villagers, especially women… Later, in 2001 and early 2002, I spent two months in villages in Comilla, Sylhet and Dhaka districts, with my students… My students without my prompting told me that they found non-Grameen villagers much better off than those who had taken Grameen loans. Some villagers proudly asserted, ‘Sir, we did not allow the Grameen to open its branch in our village. And as a result, we are much better off than some neighbouring villagers (who are indebted to Grameen) by the grace of Allah.’ Most unfortunately, contrary to what Dr Yunus has been telling us, the poorest of the poor simply do not/cannot get Grameen loan as they simply cannot service any loan at 30%, payable in 52 installments in one year. There is no remission, exemptions or leniency. Defaulters part with tinsheds, utensils, goat and cattle. This came out in so many newspapers in Bangladesh and researchers (even admirers of Grameen) found out on the field… Even the wretched Kabuli (actually Pathan) money-lenders in Bengal during the British period used to advance micro-credit, collateral free, at 24% interest. None of those money lenders ever got any appreciation from us. Do your know that Rabindra Nath Tagore started a beautiful rural banking system in the 1930s at a village called Patishar in Naogaon district… The beauty of Tagore’s bank was that it charged no interest from the borrowers. Did Tagore deserve another Nobel Prize for this noble gesture at the fag end of his life?
Dr Hashmi questions, “Do you think that it is fair to charge around 28 to 30% interest from the ‘target group’ or the poor borrowers (the poorest do not get the loan, at all), while the Grameen Bank gets that capital from Western donors interest free or at 2% interest? Do you think Grameen Phone should have paid due income tax to the Bangladesh Government? Do you think NGOs, not good governance, can alleviate and eradicate poverty? Similarly, is it fair to promote money-lending by Grameen borrowers? They borrow at 30% and invest that in local money-lending business charging 100% or more on short-term loans.
So while the Noble Peace Prize is a good news, the story behind the prize is not so. Finally, while Gandhi never got the Noble Peace Prize (he deserved it most in South Asia), Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat, Yasser Arafat and a former South Korean President got this prize for bringing about ‘peace’ in the Middle East and the Korean peninsula! Where is the peace in these regions?

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[AFDAL]

Between the lines
The Yunus Example
Kuldip Nayar
I do not know if the meek will inherit the earth, as the biblical saying goes. But whenever anyone among them gets the recognition, I feel inspired, more so when the person happens to be from the region. Muhammed Yunus who has won the Nobel Peace Prize is a simple, unassuming Bangladeshi who has done the entire South Asia proud. That the honour has come to him for helping the poor for reconstructing their lives is all the more commendable. South Asia is the most exploited area where more than 50 per cent people live on the periphery.
What the Yunus experiment tells is that even an individual, if determined, can make a dent in closed doors behind which the poor have been generally stacked. Thirty-two years ago, he loaned from his own pocket some Rs 250 to a group of famine-stricken farmers to save them from the clutches of moneylenders. Two years later, he opened his Grameen Bank for the same purpose. Today, he has 65 million borrowers, mostly women, who have transformed their living conditions through self-employment. I had the privilege of meeting Yunus early this year when he was the main speaker at the 10th anniversary of The Daily Star at Dhaka. Standing at the rostrum in his kurta and pajama, he reflected honesty and integrity which is so limited in the region. In his speech, he said that a poverty-free world was a reachable dream provided the better-off in the society were willing to share their riches.
Bangladesh is rowdy, boisterous and drenched in fundamentalism. But it is a democracy all right. Liberals are divided but they speak out against fanaticism in one voice. The press is free if a newspaper is willing to stand up to the government’s blandishments. In any case, Bangladesh is far better than those countries in the region where political parties compromise with the right to rule themselves and “adjust” with autocracy or dictatorship. An admirable practice in Bangladesh is that a caretaker government is in power three months before the general elections are held. The purpose is to ensure that the official machinery does not take sides. (October 28 is the date for the changeover). The last retired Chief Justice is appointed as the chief adviser of the next caretaker government. So far the experiment has worked reasonably well. But the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has changed the rules of the game. This has forced the other main political party, Awami League, to threaten the boycott of the polls. The Election Commission too does not look or behave like an objective body.
The Awami League has demanded for its reconstitution before the party decides to participate in elections. What sustains hope in the democratic set-up of Bangladesh is that even the biggest political crisis is sorted out through a dialogue. The BNP and the Awami League are talking to each other, although haltingly, to find a solution to the appointment of a caretaker adviser to the caretaker government and the Election Commission. Despite all this, Bangladesh is teetering at the edge of violence. Religious extremism looks like having an upper hand. Bangladesh has come a long way, from domination to liberation, to understand that the society it aims at cannot be brought about through violence. In fact, all South Asian countries face a challenge from the forces of terror which parade themselves as the protector of their identity and culture. I feel that any appeal to violence is particularly dangerous in the region because of its inherent disruptive character. We have too many fissiparous tendencies for us to take risk. They are tearing our societies apart. The basic thing, I believe, is that wrong means will not lead to right results, and that this is no longer merely an ethical doctrine but a practical proposition.
True, there is a sense of frustration and depression. The old buoyancy of spirit is not to be found at a time when enthusiasm and hard work are most needed. In our efforts to insure material prosperity, I feel, we have not paid any attention to the spiritual element of human nature. I have seen over the years that in industrially-advanced countries, there has been a continuous trend of economic development. Further, this economic development has spread, though in varying degrees, to all classes. This does not apply to our countries which are not industrially developed.
Indeed, the struggle for development in our part of the world is very difficult, and sometimes, in spite of the efforts made, economic inequalities not only remain but tend to become worse. Normally speaking, it may be said that the forces of such a society, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer and thus increase the gap between them. This holds good for countries as well as to groups or regions or classes within countries. Soft as India is, it believes that the affluent nations of the world can build the country. Practically every field has been opened to foreign investors. Of course, they have the money and the technology. But what will happen to the sovereignty of India or, for that matter, other countries in South Asia. Strange, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should tell the European Union at Helsinki to take advantage of special tax-free enclaves, Special Economic Zones. (Finance Minister P Chidambaram reportedly cautioned the government against the loss of revenue running into crores of rupees at a cabinet meeting but was silenced).
I was at Bhubaneswar last week and found how practically every district of Orissa — there are 30 of them — is being handed over to multinational companies. The two natural resources — the bauxite and iron ore — are being leased to them with thousands of acres of agricultural land for the infrastructure. There is neither consideration for rehabilitation of the uprooted people nor for the depletion of natural resources.
The Nobel Prize committee has rightly said that lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. But how can this be possible when the working of globalizataion is loaded in favour of developed countries? Is there no way to develop without turning our back on what we can do on our own? Every field does not have to be opened to foreign investment. We can choose as China does. The message by Yunus from Bangladesh is that the poor can work their way through if they build the nation into a cooperative endeavour. The nation can be stretched to become a region. The South Asia Economic Union is the answer to the problems of backwardness and poverty.

[AFDAL]

Can Yunus End the Stalemate?
Mahendra Ved
With Bangladesh’s major political parties failing to agree on a caretaker government to conduct general elections in January, can Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus help to end the stalemate?
According to Bengali daily Gonokontho, the reference to Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize this month, came up as a possible head of an interim government when Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina was in the US where she met senior officials in the State Department.
It is not known whether Hasina discussed this with the Americans or on her return home with her party leadership. There is no indication whether the idea is still in currency amid political stalemate that has triggered street violence killing 14 people and injured over 1,000 in Dhaka and other places across the country.
But one thing is clear. If Yunus’ name is proposed, it would be difficult for anyone to reject it. Yunus, 66, who pioneered the concept of Grameen Bank, a network of rural banking among Bangladesh’s poor, is widely respected. He became the first Bangladeshi to win a Nobel, having already won the Magsaysay Award and the Indira Gandhi Prize for International Understanding.
Yunus has not given out his mind. But when a poser was made to him amidst tumultuous celebrations earlier this month, he had not ruled it out either. Indeed, he echoed the appeals of the civil society, NGOs, captains of trade and industry and vocal sections among Dhaka’s diplomatic corps, especially the US and the British envoys, to political parties to end strife and resolve disputes through dialogue.
What perhaps began as the fond hope of some that a renowned person with a record of work among the country’s poor should take up the job, acquired a high measure of credibility and currency when an indication to this effect was made by the US State Department in Washington.
Under the Bangladesh Constitution, President Iajuddin Ahmed would have to exhaustively try out with all former chief justices of the country before invoking a provision that stipulates the choice of ‘‘an eminent citizen’’. Going by the way the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and AwamiLeague have knocked out each other’s ‘candidates’, and by the Awami League’s rejection of the president stepping into the post, the turn of ‘‘an eminent citizen’’ could then come.
Yunus’ selection to the job would require political sagacity by the political parties, analysts say. They would have to think out-of-the-box. But if Yunus is the final choice for heading the interim government, he would be stepping into a political quagmire, analysts warn.
It is a thankless job and conducting elections in volatile Bangladesh is a major challenge. A success would enhance the image of Yunus, who is already a national icon. But a failure could dent his image and popularity. (IANS)

[AFDAL]

Bangalore: The latest developments in Bangladesh leading to bloody violence and scores killed in Dhaka on Oct.27-28, 2006 make us suspect that the country’s divided Muslim leadership is playing into the hands of India’s Brahminical conspirators who created Bangladesh.

Though it is too early to say anything definite, reports that the latest Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammed Yunus, is launching a political party and that he is guided by a Bengali Brahmin, Debabrata Bhattacharya, heading the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Dhaka, make us suspect that there is something fishy.

We may be wrong but our fear is that powerful international anti-Muslim forces are working to foment a crisis and manage public opinion to make the people cry for Yunus to step in. Yunus, who is a Muslim only in name, said he was forming a political party. Yunus, it is learnt, is a puppet in the hands of CPD.

Battle of the Begums: If this “conspiracy” works, that will be the end of the “battle of the Begums” with which the people are tired. Begum Khaleda Zia, the outgoing Prime Minister heading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Begum Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League have been ruling the impoverished Bangladesh alternatively from the past 1990s.

People are no doubt fed up. Will they reject both the Begums and opt for Yunus, whose “clean image” and “love for the poor” is advertised world-wide by the zionist-controlled Nobel Foundation which selects only such people who will serve its mission?

Will Yunus fulfil their mission?

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

Wow, doesnt sound too good =\

[AFDAL]

By giving yet another Nobel (Peace) Prize to a Muslim, Muhammad Yunus, who is a Muslim only by name, the Jews and “Jews of India” have conspired to destroy the Islamic state of Bangladesh. A Bengali Brahmin, Debabrata Bhattacharya, heading the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Dhaka (CPD), is trying to drag Yunus into politics and destroy the country’s Islamic character. Fortunately all major political parties have exposed the CPD conspiracy. Deep conspiracies are being hatched to subvert Bangladesh which was created as a result of the Brahminical conspiracy to weaken Pakistan

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

They wont succeed, InshAllah.

[AFDAL]

the achievement of Nobel for Peace by Md. Yunus. His banking riioael aimed at alleviation of poverty and improvement in the standard of living of mostly rural men and women in Bangladesh. poverty has a dehumanising effect. The daily struggle for survival does not leave the poor opportunities to participate in social life. Poor people have no choice but to sell their rights to a patron or patrons. Md. Yunus was disturbed by poverty all around him in his Bangladesh.

Devashis Bose and Monimala Devi have rightly pointed out that Yunus formula is an application of capitalistic financial system at the grass roots level in Bangladesh. Mohammad Yunus and Bangladesh Gramin Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace prize. But the concept of regional rural bank was introduced in India in 1975. 196 Regional Rural Banks were established with 14,500 branches supplying credit to the rural poor. Nearly 54 million of rural people in India got rural credit of more than Rs. 26,500 crore in 2004-0;. Nearly 95 per cent rural credit had gone to the rural poor. The total saving mobilisation from villages was Rs. 56,350 crore in 2004-Q;). Indira Gandhi was the path finder in micro-credit in rural India. Md. Yunus had visited rural India many times to see how the Regional Rural Banks had been functioning in India since September 1975. Bangladesh Gramin Bank was establised in 1976, following India’s model. - Yours etc., B. DATTA RAY, Shillong. Asom , NE India

[AFDAL]

Dhaka, Nov 30 ((IANS) Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has mooted a coalition government of the warring alliances, irrespective of the results of the polls due next January, to resolve the current political stalemate in Bangladesh.

Back from the US and Canada last week, Yunus announced on Wednesday a draft seven point proposal at a civic reception accorded to him on winning this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Yunus has advocated that the losing alliance in the ensuing elections should have a deputy prime minister and a third of the ministerial berths in a government that should hold office for one year.

Coinciding with his proposal was a call by Nicholas Burns, the US state department's under secretary for political affairs, who is the Bush administration's point man in South Asia.

Noting that Yunus had earned "an important distinction for Bangladesh", Burns asked in the course of a speech in Washington: "Can its (Bangladesh) leadership put aside their differences to lead the country forward in peace?"

"That is the central question to ask as we approach the 2007 elections," Burns was quoted in a report monitored by The Daily Star newspaper Thursday.

On the face of it, analysts noted, Yunus' proposal is an amalgam of the demands of the two contending political alliances led by former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina.

In the parliamentary system that Bangladesh has, allowing the losing side to share power is a proposal that is unlikely to win favour with the contenders for power.

Yunus' name had figured as a possible chief adviser who would head an interim government and conduct the elections. He has not declined the idea.

However, save the media hype and sentiments expressed by a section of the educated middle classes, the idea did not go very far. None among the major political parties warmed up to the idea.

[AFDAL]

Yunus stripped naked

The Jews and the “Jews of India” trying hard to disrupt and destroy the Muslim country of Bangladesh groomed Yunus. They pumped too much of blow into the Yunus balloon but it quickly burst into pieces even before it could fly. He was given all sorts of awards and rewards, including the zionist-instituted Nobel Peace Prize. They paraded him all over the world and tried to project him as the only saviour of the “strife-torn” Bangladesh.

Yunus got puffed up and posed like the future leader of Bangladesh.

Military’s clean-up drive: They even tried to destabilise the country but the military put its foot down and the disciplined the battling Begums and booted the corrupt politicians. Bangladesh has been cleansed.

As this process was going on the Bengali anti-national Brahminical fellows evaporated and Yunus found himself lonely. Both the Begums may be having their following in tact but Yunus found himself alone and none to follow him.

But the problem of saboteurs is not over. One Yunus may be dead. But the Bengali Brahmins with the help of Jews and the “Jews of India” are capable of manufacturing more such fellows.

http://dalitvoice.org/Templates/june2007/reports.htm

[Cognescenti]

AFDAL;

You do realize that expressions like "zionist-instituted Nobel Peace Prize" and "Jews of India" seems a little crazy to some of us?