[Reader-list] More on Dr Yunus's Nobel Prize and Related Issues by:Taj Hashmi

[arshad amanullah]

More on Dr Yunus's Nobel Prize and Related Issues

Taj Hashmi



Dear Friends:



I have mixed feelings about Dr Yunus's getting this most prestigious
award. On the one hand I am happy for him, rather happier for my
country. At least more than a billion people globally read, watched
and heard this image-boosting news. And I know, the average people do
not know or care to know how a particular physicist, chemist,
medical-researcher / physician, economist, writer and peacemaker got
the Nobel. How many Indians can precisely tell as to why the great
Amartya Sen got the prize is a billion dollar question. In this token,
Dr Yunus's prize matters most to the bulk of the people in Bangladesh
and abroad, NOT what fetched this prize.



I have no problem with that. I also personally believe as I personally
know Prof Yunus since our Chittagong University days as colleagues
since 1972 that he is not the type who would make money by his
project. So where is the problem that I am dead against NGOs and
micro-credit?



I was a BIG admirer of Grameen Bank up to 1996. After undertaking my
book project to work on women and Islam in Bangladesh in early 1996, I
spent a few months in Bangladeshi villages doing field work, examining
the impact of NGOs (mainly Grameen and BRAC) on the poor villagers,
especially women. I also looked into the problem of the ongoing
confrontation between NGOs and village mullahs. I interviewed a cross
section of the population, reviewed literature, both pro- and
anti-Grameen (there are tons of anti-Grameen literature, both in print
and web). And by early 1997 I was a changed man.



Later in 2001 and early 2002 I spent two months in villages in
Comilla, Sylhet and Dhaka districts, with my students as their
supervisor (anthropology and ethnography). My students without my
prompting all told me that they found non-Grameen villagers were much
better off than those taken Grameen loans. Some villagers proudly
asserted: "Sir ( unfortunately, a very common expression in Bangladesh
on part of the poorer sections while addressing urban educated
people), we did not allow the Grameen to open its branch in our
village. And as  a result, we are much better off than some
neighbouring villagers, (who are indebted to Grameen) by the grace of
Allah."



Most unfortunately, contrary to what Dr Yunus has been telling us, the
poorest of the poor simply do not / cannot get Grameen loan as they
simply cannot service any loan at 30%, payable in 52 instalments in
one year. There is no remission, exemptions or leniency. Defaulters
part with tinsheds, utensils, goat and cattle. This came out in so
many newspapers in Bangladesh and researchers (even admirers of
Grameen) found out on the field.



So, the Grameen borrowers are mainly middle peasants, who had access
to micro credit throlughout our history. Even the wretched Kabuli
(actually Pathan) money lenders in Bengal during the British period
used to advance micro credit, collateral free, at 24% interest., None
of those money lenders ever got any appreciations from us. Those money
lenders rendered tremendous service to the poor during their crisis
period -- on the eve of their children's wedding or when they were on
the verge of starvation during a bad harvest, floods or drought.



Do you know that Rabindra Nath Tagore started a beautiful rural
banking system in the 1930s at a village called Patishar in Naogaon
district (not far from Hasan Mahmud's ancestral home). Tagore's bank,
called Patishar Bank is almost an exact replica of Dr Yunus's Grameen
Bank (which Dr Yunus never acknowledged). But the beauty of Tagore's
bank was that it charged NO INTEREST from the borrowers. Did Tagore
deserve another Nobel Prize for this noble gesture at the fag end of
his life?



In sum, I do agree with the view that Dr Yunus has a vision and
Bangladesh should celebrate this award, but Dr Yunus has failed to
understand the implications of importing Monsanto seeds into
Bangladesh, giving tax-free privilege to a Norwegian telephone company
to rip off Bangladesh and the evil design of the IMF and World bank,
who never ever did anything goof for the Third World. They have an
agenda, which Dr Yunus failed to understand or ignored.



Do you think that it is fair to charge  around 28 to30% interest from
the "target group" or the poor borrowers (the poorest don't get the
loan, at all), while the Grameen Bank gets that capital from Western
donors interest free or at 2% interest? Do you think Grameen Phone
should have paid due income tax to the Bangladesh Government? Do you
think NGOs, not good governance, can alleviate and eradicate poverty?
I finish by citing Lee Kuan Yew, the father of modern Singapore. He
wrote and said in public that had Singapore listened to the IMF and
World Bank, by the 1990s Singapore would at best have been at the
stage of Sri Lanka in terms of development. Similarly Bangladesh,
taking Lee Kuan Yew and Jawaharlal Nehru, the great visionaries of our
time as inspirers, should come out of the dictates of donor agencies,
including the IMF and World Bank. My opposition to this Nobel Peace
Prize to Dr Yunus and Grameen Bank has only one objective: Bangladesh
should not let loose the demon of micro-credit and NGO business, at
the cost of its long-term interest. You would be surprised to learn
that how exploitative the mega NGOs like BRAC and PROSHIKA could be
for the average bangladeshis. How many of you know that a Nakshi
Kathar Sari you buy at Taka 12,000+ at Aarong shops, run by the BRAC,
is a by-product of slave labour. The BRAC not only pays NO income tax
(as charity, has occupied parts of Gulshan Lake to build its
multi-storied complex , people allege, I am not sure) ,it also pays
around Taka 500 to the village woman who makes the embroidery on the
Nakshi Katha Sari. And it takes her about a month to complete one
sari. Is it fair? Similarly is it fair to promote money lending by
Grameen borrowers? They borrow at 30% and invest that in local
money-lending business charging 100% or more on short-term loans. So,
while the Nobel Prize is a good news, the story behind the Prize is
not so. Finally, while Gandhi never go the Nobel Peace Prize (he
deserved it most in South Asia), Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat, Yasser
Arafat and a former  South Korean Prsident in 2000(the name slipped
off my memory) got this prize for bringing about PEACE in the Middle
East and the Korean peninsula! Where is the peace in these regions,
could you please tell me?



Warm wishes and kind regards to all.

Taj Hashmi [taj_hashmi at hotmail.com]



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