Nobel Winner Urges Defeat Of Poverty

I was reading this news and then found a quick link to Bangladesh.
This is what people use to define Bangladesh!
Bangladesh came into existence in 1971 when Bengali East Pakistan
seceded from its union with West Pakistan. About a third of this
extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy
season, hampering economic development.
Source: CIA World Fact Book

Wakeup WORLD! We are new Bangladesh. We will put poverty in the
museum. Know the new Bangladesh.. Here it is..

source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/10/world/main2244007.shtml

Nobel Winner Urges Defeat Of Poverty
Bangladeshi Economist, Creator Of Microcredit For Poor, Receives 2006
Peace Prize In Oslo Ceremony
OSLO, Norway, Dec. 10, 2006

(AP) Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, often called the banker to
the poor, received the Nobel Peace Prize on Sunday for his efforts to
relieve poverty as a cornerstone for building peace.

Yunus, 66, often called the banker to the poor, shared the coveted
award with his creation, Grameen Bank, for helping people, even
beggars, rise above poverty by giving them microcredit — small,
usually unsecured loans. The Bangladeshi economist is the developer
and founder of the concept of microcredit.

The first Nobel laureate from Bangladesh, Yunus and Grameen Bank bard
member Mosammat Taslima Begum accepted the $1.4 million prize from
awards committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes at a ceremony in Oslo.

Receiving the award on behalf of the Grameen Bank was Bangladeshi
woman Mosammat Taslima Begum, a member of the bank's board, who has
herself borrowed money from the bank.

The ceremony was attended by members of the Norwegian Royal family
including King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon.

In his Nobel lecture Yunus said the world must overcome poverty if it
ever wants to achieve peace.

"I believe terrorism cannot be won over by military action. Terrorism
must be condemned in the strongest language. We must stand solidly
against it, and find all the means to end it. We must address the root
causes of terrorism to end it for all time to come. I believe that
putting resources into improving the lives of the poor people is a
better strategy than spending it on guns," he said.

Grameen Bank, set up in 1983, was the first lender to provide
microcredit, giving very small loans to poor Bangladeshis who did not
qualify for loans from conventional banks.

No collateral is needed, and repayment is based on an honour system,
with nearly a 100 percent repayment rate.

Yunus said the idea has spread around the world, with similar
programmes in almost every country.

Yunus described the success of the bank which continues to profit from
providing loans to poor Bangladeshi women.

"Grameen Bank gives loans to nearly seven million poor people, 97 per
cent of them are women, in 73,000 villages in Bangladesh," said Yunus.

"Grameen Bank gives collateral-free income generating loans, housing
loans, student loans and micro-enterprise loans to the poor families
and offers a host of attractive savings, pension funds and insurance
products for its members," he added.

Guests at the ceremony were treated to a performance of traditional
Bangladeshi dancing and operatic singing.

Following his lecture, Yunus was personally congratulated by the royal
members present.

In Bangladesh, thousands of people set aside their nation's latest
political crisis on Sunday to watch live television coverage of their
receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.

Many residents, who stayed glued to their TVs throughout the day to
get the latest news on the deployment of army troops to contain a
growing political chaos, ended up watching the ceremony, which was
broadcast live from Oslo on state-run Bangladesh Television and most
private channels.

In Yunus's home district of Chittagong, several thousand citizens
squatted or stood around a large screen put up at a stadium.

People clapped and shouted, "Long live Bangladesh" when Yunus spoke a
few words in Bangla, the national language, during his Nobel speech.

Abdul Salam, 35, who owns a sports shop near the stadium, said, "He is
a son of Chittagong. We are so proud of him, he has brightened our
country's image worldwide," said Salam.

Villagers, many of whom have benefited from Grameen Bank's small-loan
programs, also watched in groups at local shops.

They were thrilled when one of their own, Taslima Begum, a Grameen
borrower from northern Rajshahi district, accepted the prize on their
behalf at the Oslo City Hall.

"We are so happy, wish we could all have gone there," said Samida
Begum, talking by telephone from Kelia village near Dhaka. Begum runs
a phone call shop started with a Grameen Bank loan almost 18 years
ago. Her family also owns a poultry shop started with a loan from
Grameen.