JSD leader ASM Abdur Rob extends his support
Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus on Monday urged business community to take a stand against the attempt to destroy the Grameen Bank that “belonged to 8.4 million people in the country, most of whom were poor and homeless”. He said: “The recommendation to divide the bank into 19 pieces is atrocious. It would completely destroy the institution,” Yunus, founder of the bank, said, questioning the government’s motive in breaking up the bank.
Yunus was addressing the monthly luncheon programme of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AMCHAM). He urged the business community
Yunus claimed he had been facing extreme hostility for the last two years. He warned the government that its efforts to split the institution may lead to dire consequences.
The Nobel laureate also criticised international financing organisations, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), for following age-old policies as well as international brand organisations for leaving Bangladesh out in the cold on the pretext of poor labour conditions and safety compliances in the garments sector.
He said though most multinational agencies were still stuck in the past, the world had changed a lot around them. He suggested that those agencies should redesign polices on the basis of present day needs and requirements. He also said international brands, who had chosen to leave Bangladesh on the ground of poor safety compliances in RMG factories, must bear part of the blame themselves as buyers always bargain for lowering manufacturing costs and exert influence over factory owners.
“Walking away from Bangladesh is not a solution to the problem of factory compliance and poor labour conditions,” he added.
He demanded introduction of an international minimum wage for providing better pay for workers.
Presenting various aspects of his movement for social business, Yunus said the campaign drew attention of the people across the world. “We have been receiving invitations from Europe, America and Africa to explain the idea of social business,” he added.
Yunus pointed out that developed nations, such as Britain and Sweden, were facing tremendous difficulties in resolving various social problems. Donations and charities were no longer providing permanent solutions to these problems, he added. In this context, the idea of social business could help people attain a level of super happiness through helping others, he asserted.
AMCHAM president Aftabul Islam chaired the luncheon meeting at Hotel Ruposhi Bangla. The meeting was attended by several eminent personalities such as Dr Kamal Hossein, former minister M Syeduzzman, former adviser to caretaker government Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud, Sir Fazle Hossein Abed, Mahbubur Rahman, Latifur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam and Faruq Sobhan.
Earlier, at a function at the Yunus Centre, Dr Yunus said, as long as he is alive, he would not let anybody harm the Grameen Bank.
“The people of the country is with us. The Grameen Bank had to be protected at any cost” he said at when JSD president ASM Rab met him at the Yunus centre to express his party’s solidarity with Dr Yunus’s stance over the Bank..
-With The Independent input
