bdnews24.com New Delhi Correspondent
New Delhi, Dec 9 (bdnews24.com) – Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus called on the elite of India's political world, gathered at the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, to help make South Asia the first poverty-free region of the world, by 2030.
The world-renowned economist said poverty was created, not by poor people, but by deficiencies in systems and termed the current global crisis an opportunity to rebuild financial institutions.
The founder of the Grameen Bank was delivering the second Prof Hiren Mukherjee Memorial Lecture in the Central Hall of the Indian Parliament. The theme of the lecture was 'Social Business' and the opportunity to "change our economic framework".
He said the current financial crisis had exposed the falsity of old assumptions, based on which financial institutions refused to provide services to the poor, who constituted nearly two-thirds of the world's population.
"For generations, they (financial institutions) claimed that it could not be done, and everybody accepted that explanation."
But, he pointed out, while big conventional banks with all their collateral were collapsing, micro-credit programmes, not dependent on collateral, continued to be as strong as ever.
"Will this make the mainstream financial institutions change their minds? Will they finally open their doors to the poor?" he asked.
Welcoming Yunus, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh described him as "an exceptional human being".
"Prof. Yunus is one of those exceptional human beings who has successfully applied his knowledge of economics and society for reducing the poverty of millions and millions of men and women. In this he has indeed been a great visionary of our times," said Singh, himself an economist of repute.
The Indian prime minister said Prof. Yunus had revolutionised the idea of micro-credit and made it accessible to the poorest of the poor. "He has brought about a paradigm shift in reaching out to the dispossessed and the disinherited. His work has especially touched poor women and empowered them," said Singh.
The Prof Hiren Mukherjee Memorial Parliamentary Lecture was instituted last year by Somnath Mukherjee, the then Speaker of the Indian Parliament's Lower House 'Lok Sabha'. It was instituted in the memory of Prof Hiren Mukherjee – an eminent communist parliamentarian of India. Prof Mukherjee passed away in 2004.
Nobel winning economist Prof. Amartya Sen delivered the first Prof Hiren Mukherjee Memorial Lecture in 2008.
Apart from MPs, the cream of India's political class and intelligentsia were present in the audience as Prof Yunus delivered the lecture.
Yunus called on all present to envision South Asia as the first poverty-free region of the world by 2030.
"Let's dream that by 2030 South Asia will set up a reliable state-of-the-art healthcare system that will provide affordable care for all people. Let's dream that by 2030 we'll create a robust financial system to provide easy access to financial services to every single person in South Asia," he said
"Let's dream that by 2030 the first career choice for every child growing up in South Asia will not be to work for some company but to launch his or her own enterprise."
Yunus also stressed on the need to convert the current global crisis into an opportunity to redesign, recast, and rebuild the financial institutions and make them inclusive institutions. He said nobody should be refused access to financial services.
"Because these services are so vital for self-realisation of people, I strongly feel that credit should be given the status of a human right," he added.
India's vice-president Hamid Ansari, who is also chairman of the Upper House 'Rajya Sabha, presided over the event. Speaker Meira Kumar delivered the welcome address.
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