Father of the global microcredit movement and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has been elected as the head of the new interim government of Bangladesh. Muhammad Yunus is a staunch opponent of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This is also considered to be one of the main reasons behind Sheikh Hasina resigning from the post of Prime Minister and leaving the country.
Known as the ‘Banker of the Poor’, Yunus and the Grameen Bank established by him received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Because, he helped millions of people out of poverty by providing small loans of less than $100 to the rural poor. These poor people could not get any help from big banks.
Rural America started
His lending model inspired many such schemes around the world. This also includes developed countries like the United States. In America, Yunus also started a separate non-profit organization Grameen America. As 84-year-old Yunus became successful, his inclination towards making a career in politics increased. He also tried to form his own party in 2007. But when her ambition started taking a bigger form, Sheikh Hasina became angry. Hasina also accused Yunus of ‘sucking the blood of the poor’.
Critics in other countries, including Bangladesh and neighboring India, also say microlenders charge high interest and extort money from the poor. But Yunus said that these rates are much lower than local interest rates in developing countries. In 2011, Hasina government removed him from the post of head of Grameen Bank. The government then said that 73-year-old Yunus was still holding the post even after the legal retirement age of 60 years. Then people had protested against his dismissal. Thousands of Bangladeshis formed a human chain in protest.
jailed for six months
In January this year, Yunus was sentenced to six months in jail for violating labor laws. In June, a Bangladeshi court also tried Yunus and 13 others on charges of embezzling 252.2 million taka ($2 million) from a welfare fund for workers at a telecommunications company he founded.
However, he was not sent to jail in any case. Yunus is facing more than 100 other cases of corruption and many other charges. However, Yunus denied any such allegations. Criticizing Hasina in June this year, Yunus had said, ‘There is no politics left in Bangladesh. There is only one party which is active and takes control of everything. And she wins elections in her own way.
Speaking to Times Now on Monday, he said it is the “second liberation day” for Bangladesh after the war it fought for independence from Pakistan in 1971 following Hasina’s exit from the country. Yunus is currently in Paris and is undergoing a minor medical procedure there. His spokesperson said he has agreed to the request of the students leading the campaign against Hasina to make him the chief advisor of the interim government.
Used to teach economics at Chittagong University
When there was famine in Bangladesh in 1974, Yunus was teaching economics at Chittagong University. Thousands of people were killed in this famine. Then Yunus thought of finding a better way to help the country’s huge rural population. This opportunity came when Yunus met a woman in a village near the university who had taken a loan from a moneylender. This loan was less than a dollar, but in return the moneylender got the right to buy anything produced by the woman at a price decided by him.
Yunus said in his speech while receiving the Nobel Prize, ‘For me it was a way of recruiting slave labor.’ Then they found 42 people who had borrowed a total of $27 from the moneylender and lent them their own money. Its success inspired them to give more loans. Yunus had said, ‘I was surprised by the results I got after giving the loan. The poor paid the interest on time every time.