Saturday, February 24th, 2007US Congressman Steve Chabot, who left for Washington early yesterday ending his one-day whirlwind tour, said the people of Bangladesh are to determine whether or not micro-finance pioneer Professor Muhammad Yunus will make a good political leader as well. Talking to some reporters at the Radisson Hotel on Thursday evening -- much the same time as Yunus floated his party -- he noted that the Nobel laureate has been successful in his arena of micro-credit, but it is to be seen if he is equally successful in politics. Prof Yunus has brought honour and prestige for Bangladesh by winning the ...
(read more) Saturday, February 24th, 2007Criticising Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus' micro-credit institution Grameen Bank and his decision to enter politics, a section of academicians yesterday said Prof Yunus has to clarify his ideological position before entering politics.The micro-credit system cannot be a means of poverty alleviation, rather it is deeply linked to capitalism that finally helps poverty continue, they said at the publication ceremony of a book at the Jatiya Press Club.The book titled "Grameen Bank and Dr Yunus: In the View of a Witness" by former Grameen Bank official Sardar Amin was published by Jatiya Shahitya Prokashani."Dr Yunus' declaration of entering politics proves ...
(read more) Monday, December 4th, 2006Speakers at a conference yesterday said there is an emerging east-west inequality in reduction of poverty in Bangladesh, and urged for new ways to tackle poverty in addition to micro-credit.The speakers were participating in the first day of a three-day conference titled 'What works for the poorest? Knowledge, policies and practices', organised by Brac at its Mohakhali head office in collaboration with Chronic Poverty Research Centre and Manchester University's Brooks World Poverty Institute.Citing a collaborative study by the World Bank and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the World Bank's Hassan Zaman noted, "We are seeing an emerging east-west divide in reducing ...
(read more) Tuesday, November 14th, 2006Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, Queen Sofia of Spain and hundreds of campaigners met for a summit yesterday where they announced their lofty goal of attempting to lift 175 million of the world's poorest people out of poverty by 2015.Campaigners at the second Global Microcredit Summit, which is being held in this east coast Canadian city between November 12-15, said the use of tiny business loans known as microcredit had already helped lift tens of millions of people out of poverty and improve their livelihoods.About 2,000 delegates, including UN officials and microcredit specialists, have travelled to Halifax from some ...
(read more) Tuesday, October 17th, 2006Rapturous ovation and heartiest greetings from all walks of life marked the reception of first Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital yesterday as thousands thronged the venue to congratulate the nation's brightest star.Exhilaration and elation seemed to have had no bounds as the cheerful crowd witnessed the first mass reception accorded to the Nobel laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank.As soon as Yunus entered the hall room of the centre the audience burst into cheers giving him a standing ovation. An ecstatic wave of satisfaction and happiness swept the audience ...
(read more) Monday, October 16th, 2006Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof Muhammad Yunus was all ecstatic and full of emotion as he visited his birthplace Chittagong and Jobra village, now a familiar name across the globe, yesterday.The whole Port City--from Engineers Institute to the economics department at Chittagong University to Jobra village where Prof Yunus' revolutionary concept of microcredit kicked off--was vibrant with people from all strata heartily greeting the Nobel laureate.The scene was extraordinary in Jobra village in the afternoon as a few of the first borrowers of Grameen Bank loans thronged the Nabajug Tebhaga Khamar premises and accorded a hearty reception to the lone ...
(read more) Monday, October 16th, 2006More messages greeting Prof Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank for winning the Nobel Peace Prize reached yesterday.Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store and International Development Minister Erik Solheim have congratulated Prof Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank."I extend my congratulation to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2006", said Stoltenberg in a message.The Norwegian prime minister said for 30 years they have granted loans to the poor and in particular to women, making it possible for them to start new enterprises and work their way out ...
(read more) Monday, October 16th, 2006Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus will be accorded a mass reception at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city today.Nagarik Samaj will organise the reception programme at 1:00pm where former president Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed will be present, family sources said.Economists, bankers, politicians, civil society leaders, journalists, businessmen, students, union parishad chairmen, microcredit recipients, and people from all walks of life will attend the ceremony to greet the first ever Nobel laureate of the country.Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud and Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman will conduct the mass greeting.People have been requested not to carry bags to the programme for the sake of ...
(read more) Sunday, October 15th, 2006The Grameen Bank head office at Mirpur in the capital wore a festive mood yesterday as hundreds of people from all walks of life gathered there to greet Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.Colourful processions were also brought out in different parts of the country in celebration of the glory Prof Yunus and his Grameen Bank earned the nation by winning the Nobel Peace Prize 2006 on Friday. People danced and sang in joy and happiness to celebrate the country's first ever Nobel Prize."Amid today's unity and happiness, we are looking forward to a similar unity among the politicians," Prof Yunus ...
(read more) Sunday, October 15th, 2006Marium Bibi doesn't know what the Nobel Prize is, but she realises that Dr Muhammad Yunus, who had played a vital role in altering the course of her life, has received something extraordinary.The 70-year-old woman was the first recipient of the small loans by Dr Yunus's Grameen Bank in 1976, through which a destitute Marium managed to build a prosperous life later on."Back then, I was very poor and had been leading a miserable life with my five sons," she said while talking to The Daily Star at Bazal Master Bari premises at village Jobra near Chittagong University under ...
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