DHAKA, Oct 14: Bangladesh reacted with pride and delight Saturday as microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus became the country’s first Nobel laureate and tributes poured in from around the world.
Hundreds of people again gathered at his home on the outskirts of Dhaka Saturday eager to congratulate the Peace Prize-winner credited with helping millions out of poverty.
Yunus, whose Grameen Bank specialises in giving small loans to landless, rural people to help them become self-employed, told journalists and wellwishers he was honoured to have won for Bangladesh and pledged to continue his work for the country’s poor.
“I think poverty eradication is very much possible. You change the environment and we will lift thousands and millions of people out of poverty.
“They don’t need any grant to change their life. People have this power in them. You remove the lid of the hidden power and poor people will automatically change their lives.”
“I think it’s quite possible to eradicate poverty from this world. I think we can halve the poverty level in Bangladesh by 2015. And in the next 15 years we can rid this land of it,” he said.
Many Grameen Bank borrowers also gathered at his residence to show their support.
“It’s the proudest moment for a Bangladeshi,” said well-wisher Ansar Ahmed, whose mother took a loan from Grameen Bank that transformed the family’s fortunes.
“I am delighted that he won the prize because what he has done for me and for thousands of families like us is simply wonderful. I am here to say thanks to him for his work for us,” he added.
Across Bangladesh, people staged marches and rallies to celebrate the country’s first Nobel prize.
In the village of Hathazari in southeastern Chittagong district, where Yunus first introduced his microcredit concept, around 500 people took to the streets, according to the ATN Bangla television network.
At Singair in the central Manikganj district, more than 30,000 people beat drums and chanted “light the lamp of Yunus at every home” as they marched through the town, the channel said.
Earlier, President Iajuddin Ahmed and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia led the nation in paying tribute to Yunus.
“The entire nation is proud of the first Nobel prize for any Bangladeshi citizen. Dr Yunus’s microcredit programme has benefited millions of poor,” said Zia.
Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan praised Yunus for his “selfless service... rendered to the poorest of the poor, bringing hope to the hopeless.”
He added: “He has made Bangladesh proud and I, as a childhood friend, feel especially elated to share this glorious (sense of) pride with him.”
The Bangladeshi media also paid tribute to the economist, hailing him as the country’s greatest social reformer.
“Congratulations Mr Bangladesh,” said the Bengali daily Jai Jai Din in a front-page editorial. “At last Bangladesh has a world-class role model.”
Yunus, an economics professor, began fighting poverty during a devastating famine in Bangladesh, setting up Grameen Bank in 1976 as a pilot project to provide credit for people too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. The concept has since been copied in more than 40 countries.—AFP
