Yunus to receive highest US civilian award
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Yunus given rare honour | The Daily Star
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013
Yunus given rare honour
He dedicates the highest US civilian award to people of Bangladesh
Md. Fazlur Rahman
House Speaker John Boehner hands Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus the Congressional Gold Medal as House Minority Leader and former speaker Nancy Pelosi watches during a ceremony yesterday in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Photo: AFP
Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award of the United States, in recognition of his efforts toward combating global poverty.
Yunus is only the 17th person in history to have won both the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, another of the highest US civilian awards. Yunus won the latter award in 2009.
The achievement places him in the company of Norman Borlaug, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Aung San Suu Kyi and Mother Teresa personalities who have received the two medals from the US as well as the Nobel Peace Prize.
Professor Yunus set out to do what may be the biggest thing of all, and that is liberating people to seek a better life. And not just any people, but men and women who had only known misery, who had been told they were no good, House Speaker John Boehner said during the award ceremony in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington DC.
To do all this, he first had to teach himself how to run a bank from scratch. That was when he realised he had to do the exact opposite of what a bank normally does to make his idea work. Then there was actually getting people to borrow the money, to see value in themselves, to spark their sense of wonder. He had to convince them that they too didnt need rank or status to advance their place in life, he said.
House and Senate leaders presented Prof Yunus with the Congressional Gold Medal, which was announced in 2010.
Its very emotional. Its not only an endorsement, but an inspiration for everybody who has supported us colleagues and friends, staff and borrowers of the Grameen Bank, all the people who participate in social business, a jubilant Yunus told The New York Times ahead of Wednesdays ceremony in Washington DC.
Im grateful to the US Congress that it paid attention. Many people do good things that are never recognised. Im very blessed that way, he said, while dedicating the honour to the people of Bangladesh.
Yunus is best known for developing the concept of microcredit and using that model of lending to promote economic and social opportunity. Through his Grameen Bank, Yunus pioneered the movement and helped hundreds of millions come out of poverty. Today, microfinance providers reach about 200 million clients globally.
In Bangladesh, the Grameen Bank, the first bank in the world owned by poor women, has 8.4 million borrowers 96 percent of whom are women. Known as the Banker to the Poor, Yunus has set up many other enterprises that offer an array of products and services to the poor, to achieve his lone ambition of eradicating poverty from the world, or, as he likes to put it, sending poverty to the museum.
In 2010, the US Senate unanimously approved a bill to award Yunus the medal, which represents Congress highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievement and contribution.
Former recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include George Washington, Sir Winston Churchill, Elie Wiesel, Pope John Paul II, Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King.
In the next five years, Yunus wants to see at least 1 percent of the world economy made up of social business, his new passion.
If we can make that 1 percent happen, I think the world will be completely different. People will see how exciting it is, and soon the level will rise from 1 to 5 percent and pave the way to 50 percent, he told the newspaper.
Social business is a non-dividend company dedicated to solving human problems. It allows the company to make profit, but it stays with the company. The owner will only get back the original investment, and nothing more, according to Prof Yunus.
He is upbeat about the success of social business, as he was in the case of microcredit. Theres a whole generation of young people coming up with social business ideas. Profit making doesnt interest them as much as it interested people before, particularly the post-war [Liberation War of Bangladesh] generation. Their main question is: What am I going to do with my life? What is the purpose of my life?
Yunus said once people like the idea of social money, they would start diverting their business money into social businesses. The microcredit pioneer said it was very much possible to eradicate poverty. With the creative power we have today, this is a do-able proposition. We can create a world where poverty doesnt exist. In order for the next generation to see poverty, well have to create poverty museums. Thats where poverty belongs, not in human society.
So lets put this on the list of impossibilities that we want to make possible within the next 20 years. Thats the way change takes place, he told the New York Times.
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013
Yunus given rare honour
He dedicates the highest US civilian award to people of Bangladesh
Md. Fazlur Rahman
House Speaker John Boehner hands Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus the Congressional Gold Medal as House Minority Leader and former speaker Nancy Pelosi watches during a ceremony yesterday in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Photo: AFP
Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus yesterday received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award of the United States, in recognition of his efforts toward combating global poverty.
Yunus is only the 17th person in history to have won both the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, another of the highest US civilian awards. Yunus won the latter award in 2009.
The achievement places him in the company of Norman Borlaug, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Aung San Suu Kyi and Mother Teresa personalities who have received the two medals from the US as well as the Nobel Peace Prize.
Professor Yunus set out to do what may be the biggest thing of all, and that is liberating people to seek a better life. And not just any people, but men and women who had only known misery, who had been told they were no good, House Speaker John Boehner said during the award ceremony in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington DC.
To do all this, he first had to teach himself how to run a bank from scratch. That was when he realised he had to do the exact opposite of what a bank normally does to make his idea work. Then there was actually getting people to borrow the money, to see value in themselves, to spark their sense of wonder. He had to convince them that they too didnt need rank or status to advance their place in life, he said.
House and Senate leaders presented Prof Yunus with the Congressional Gold Medal, which was announced in 2010.
Its very emotional. Its not only an endorsement, but an inspiration for everybody who has supported us colleagues and friends, staff and borrowers of the Grameen Bank, all the people who participate in social business, a jubilant Yunus told The New York Times ahead of Wednesdays ceremony in Washington DC.
Im grateful to the US Congress that it paid attention. Many people do good things that are never recognised. Im very blessed that way, he said, while dedicating the honour to the people of Bangladesh.
Yunus is best known for developing the concept of microcredit and using that model of lending to promote economic and social opportunity. Through his Grameen Bank, Yunus pioneered the movement and helped hundreds of millions come out of poverty. Today, microfinance providers reach about 200 million clients globally.
In Bangladesh, the Grameen Bank, the first bank in the world owned by poor women, has 8.4 million borrowers 96 percent of whom are women. Known as the Banker to the Poor, Yunus has set up many other enterprises that offer an array of products and services to the poor, to achieve his lone ambition of eradicating poverty from the world, or, as he likes to put it, sending poverty to the museum.
In 2010, the US Senate unanimously approved a bill to award Yunus the medal, which represents Congress highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievement and contribution.
Former recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include George Washington, Sir Winston Churchill, Elie Wiesel, Pope John Paul II, Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King.
In the next five years, Yunus wants to see at least 1 percent of the world economy made up of social business, his new passion.
If we can make that 1 percent happen, I think the world will be completely different. People will see how exciting it is, and soon the level will rise from 1 to 5 percent and pave the way to 50 percent, he told the newspaper.
Social business is a non-dividend company dedicated to solving human problems. It allows the company to make profit, but it stays with the company. The owner will only get back the original investment, and nothing more, according to Prof Yunus.
He is upbeat about the success of social business, as he was in the case of microcredit. Theres a whole generation of young people coming up with social business ideas. Profit making doesnt interest them as much as it interested people before, particularly the post-war [Liberation War of Bangladesh] generation. Their main question is: What am I going to do with my life? What is the purpose of my life?
Yunus said once people like the idea of social money, they would start diverting their business money into social businesses. The microcredit pioneer said it was very much possible to eradicate poverty. With the creative power we have today, this is a do-able proposition. We can create a world where poverty doesnt exist. In order for the next generation to see poverty, well have to create poverty museums. Thats where poverty belongs, not in human society.
So lets put this on the list of impossibilities that we want to make possible within the next 20 years. Thats the way change takes place, he told the New York Times.
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Dr.Yunus have tremendous connection out side BD.socially, politically. If he can come up with an idea about a non violent movement for the mass ppl in BD me thinks everyone (except AL)will support this.this movement should include community security.business in terms of trade.and civic duty. If he can do something like that who needs AL or BNP.
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