Zero Poverty Is Possible & Achievable: Prof. Md Yunus

Bhubaneswar: Zero poverty is possible and achievable. Poverty can be achieved by activating the citizens. It cannot be done only through government money, but needs appropriate policy, institutions and strong willingness, opined Prof Muhammad Yunus, the Noble Laureate while delivering 16^th Lecturer of Odisha Knowledge Hub (OKH) at Secretariat conference hall here on Friday.

Prof Yunus maintained that zero poverty, zero unemployment and zero carbon emission (a world of three zeros) are not academic concepts; they are jobs and can be realized through joint action.

“Micro credit system through the models of ‘social banking’ adopted by Grameen Bank of Bangladesh has proved successful. The technique has helped lakhs of families to remove the mark of poverty from their face. It has also proved its worth in empowering women in Bangladesh enormously,” Prof Yunus further said.

He emphasized that the similar banking model has also been successfully tried in different western countries and expressed confidence that the same model can be replicated in India and elsewhere for removing the poverty by improving banking access to the poor. He added that every individual has the qualities of entrepreneurship and it through opening their access to credit that his/her productivity can be enhanced. He showed how extension credit to the beggars in Bangladesh through Grameen Bank has made them the entrepreneurs.

Prof. Yunus said Odisha has taken the lead in ‘knowledge sharing’ about good governance through the institution of OKH and the model should be followed by other States.

Replying to a media query after the meeting, development commissioner and additional chief secretary R. Balakrishnan said, “The micro finance model initiated by Prof Yunus is a proven model both in Bangladesh and USA. It was a great learning experience to listen from him about their experiences.  It would be helpful in improving access of poor to the banking system.”

Finance and excise minister Sashi Bhusan Behera presented OKH memento to Prof. Md. Yunus in commemoration of his visit to the state. Reciprocating the presentation, Prof Yunus also presented his recently published book “A World of Three Zeros” to the minister. Prof also presented a copy of the book to chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi.

Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare minister Surya Narayan Patra, Rajya Sabha MP Dr Achyuta Samanta, additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries, secretaries of various departments along with other senior officers, academics from universities and senior activists from NGO sector participated in the open house discussion after the lecture.

In view of growing popularity of the lecture, it was extended to two other conference halls of Odisha secretariat and various district headquarters through video conferencing. The collectors along with senior officers from various districts participated in the lecture through video conferencing.