[Reader-list] My Comments on the Nobel Peace Prize for Dr Yunus and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh

[arshad amanullah]

My Comments on the Nobel Peace Prize for Dr Yunus and
Grameen Bank of Bangladesh

Taj Hashmi


In response to Mirza A. Beg's article on Dr Muhammad
Yunus's getting the Nobel Peace Prize, I have the
following comments:

This award proves again the Goebblian dictum that a
lie uttered a thousand times becomes more credible
than the truth. This Nobel Peace Prize for Yunus and
his bank, on a "Friday the 13th" is a slap in the face
of those who have been trying to bring the Third World
out of the strangling grip of the global hegemons --
the IMF, World Bank and others -- who hate to see the
Third World slipping out of their grip to become
self-reliant with good accountable governments, rule
of law and respect for human rights.

This NGO business is the biggest business in the Third
World. The IMF and World Bank, and most
multi-nationals do not want too many Chinas,
Taiwans,Malaysias, Thailand, Venezuelas, or even
Singapores and South Koreas. They love countries like
Bangladesh, Philippines, Egypt, Indonesia and
Pakistan. who either buy arms, technology and
expertise from the West, or do not build industrial
infrastructure and good governance.
There is NO substitute for good (honest and efficient)
and accountable government. Why the Asian dragons and
tigers did not adopt NGOs and microcredit for
development is the billion dollar question.

Having written this, I am happy for Bangladesh; this
Nobel Prize (given for the wrong reason though) will
bring a good name for the country, which is
unfortunately only known for its poverty and
corruption.

I pose the following questions to those who
unnecessarily glorify Dr Yunus and his bank:

Do you know in most cases it is the husband / father/
elder brother who controls the Grameen loan taken in
the name of his wife/daughter/sister? Do you know the
bank charges around 30% interest? Do you know that
Grameen borrowers lend the borrowed money at 80% to
100% interest to fellow villagers? Do you know any
other business where someone can still make a living
by borrowing at 30% interest rate? Do you know in some
villages (especially in Sylhet) men take three/four
wives to get Grameen loan to run their lucrative money
lending business? Do you know that the poorest of the
poor (as touted by Yunus, Clintons and others) are not
eligible to Grameen loan as they cannot repay their
loans in 52 instalments at 30% interest? Do you know
that only middle peasants (having some lands or
assets) are eligible to the credit?

Had there been such business one would have borrowed
thousands of dollars through credit cards to become
rich overnight. I would like to recommend Nobel Peace
Prize (why not the Economics prize?!) for all the
credit card companies as they charge around 18 -20%
and nothing happens to the defaulters. There are many
people in the lower income group who somehow survive
through credit cards, by borrowing and paying off the
debts. And we have no reason to celebrate the
performance of the Amex, Visa or Masters Card
companies for their "noble and humane" acts of
"empowering the poor through credit". It is a "shame"
that credit card companies for charging less than 20%
interest on the average are never considered for any
prize anywhere in the world!While Grameen defaulters
have to part with their ornaments, tin sheds, goats or
cattle or even utensils, many credit card defaulters
simply get away with by paying nothing. After staying
four or five years in the state of bankruptcy, they
again become creditable. All these assertions by me
are buttressed by hard evidences from my field work
and personal experience in Bangladesh.

Why do you think Monsanto, the giant US corporation,
engaged in marketing genetically modified seeds
(disastrous in the long run as peansants will have to
buy the seeds before every sowing season) is a big
promoter of microcredit? Why does Grameen Bank pay NO
income tax to Bangladesh? Why did Grameen Phone ( a
joint Bangladesh-Norway cell phone company) pay any
income tax till this year? This is the largest cell
phone company in Bangladesh, charging  for local
incoming calls as well. Is there a link between this
award and Grameen Phone's (Dr Yunus's cell phone
company) partnership with the Norweigian telephone
company, Nortel? Do you know that the Nortel has been
siphoning off millions of dollars to Norway without
paying any income tax to Bangladesh? And all of this
money laundering is done in the name of charity? What
a shame, what a disgrace!

Instead of jointly robbing Bangladesh through this
Shylockian project of mega lending to rip off the poor
in Bangladesh, in collaboration with the Grameen Bank,
donor agencies (the real vultures in the
production-growth-development arena), had they been
really sincere in developing poor countries like
Bangladesh, would have helped to modernize Bangladesh
government run telecommunication system. But the
Nortel, for the obvious reason, found it convenient to
invest in the Grameen cell phone company in
Bangladesh. And sadly, this happened through the
active collaboration of Dr Muhammad Yunus.

Why did Dr Yunus try to introduce Monsanto seeds in
Bangladesh? And finally he had to scrap this project
due to opposition.

If micro-credit could alleviate poverty, why on earth
hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis are going to
Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Singapore, borrowing
hundreds of thousands of takas (two lakh per head on
the average) to work as menials? If borrowing fifty or
sixty dollars could alleviate poverty, why are they
doing so? Are they stupids?

Cheers

Taj Hashmi
Canada
Email: taj_hashmi at hotmail.com

arshad amanullah
34,masihgarh,
jamia nagar
new delhi-25.
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