On the Enterprises of Nobel Laureate Dr. Yunus

(This was published in the Daily New Nation on 15 July 2012 under the title ‘Enhance knowledge power, expedite development’)

No canvass or model of development aimed at the well-being of the people can succeed or thrive in full or even achieve an optimum level of satisfaction if the people engaged in the process of leadership, distribution and implementation are not committed and dedicated from within with a considerable degree of sanctity and purification. And so, the concept of ‘social business’ based on a set of principles of business objectives with a perceptible center of attention that ‘traditional business operating in capitalist economy, teaches how to maximize profit, which means how to be selfish but social business teaches how to solve social problems in a business way with a very minimum profits, which means how to be selfless’ about which Bangladeshi Nobel Laureate Professor Dr. Mohammad Yunus is moving from heaven to earth may not be put into practice in line with the vision and mission due to its lacking of the ‘inner drive’ in soul and spirit.

Time has come to reassess and recast everything in a new perspective and focus that neither Muslims nor Christians nor Jews not Hindus nor Sikhs nor Buddhists nor others in the currents are in a position to say in most of the cases, to be sure, that they are very much aware of the proper teachings and lessons of their respective religion while dealing with other(s) in a community, society and state in particular and the world in general. No religion in true sense of the term encourages a person to be dogmatic, hostile, terrorist, regressive and static. Humanity, humanitarian outlook, dedication and sacrifices are said to be ornaments of a religion. This is also true that, like other areas, religions have also become prey of negative interpretations, uses and escalations. We have to bear in mind carefully the difference between a religious person and a religion-loving person. One is exactness leading to conclusion being the minority of a religion and the other is vagueness keeping distance from conclusion forming the majority. With due attention to all these truths and realities, teachings and lessons of religions should be taken into consideration while embarking upon any plan targeted at the benefits of multiples in any sense.

Dr. Yunus’ extreme emphasis on the use of technological devices including internet and mobile phones to transform the world into a world without poverty, as depicted in his thought-provoking book ’Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism (2008)’ model of which was shown in detail in his another book ‘Building Social Business; The New Kind of Capitalism That Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs (2010)’, is not so sound indeed since he allegorically considers the devices as the ghost of Aladin’s Lamp, a tale in the Arabian Nights’, in the hands of the user(s)s and so, he could not come out of the frame of the concept of business based on profits.

We know from the tale that the Lamp’s ghost remained loyal, committed and blind to his master without caring anybody else. The ghost was like a robot under the command of his welder. So, there lies a big gap between Dr.Yunus’ vision and mission. Producing a microscopic number of people with knowledge of the use of scientific and technological devices cannot be a move for real and true solutions to the fight against poverty, which is on a rise alarmingly. Concerns of the day are not only the inputs of civilization but also the inputs that keep the soul of the masses safe and unpolluted from the evils of various forms and natures including cronyism, corruption, terrorism, trafficking and in particular, it as a whole relates to those who matter in deciding as to what to do, how and when. He pointedly and unambiguously made it clear to the world that the root point of the crisis of the day is to determine a line of demarcation between ‘selfless’ and ‘selfishness’ and now the civilization needs social business with ‘selfless’ as the driving force. Is it possible without fortifying the souls of those masses and carriers who are actors and players in putting his vision into reality? So, here comes the question of application of teachings and lessons of religion to make a person ready from ‘within’ for a sacrifice. Dr. Yunus’ vision merits a lot and it definitely be weighed on a balance of plus and minus in the light of its magnetism, dynamism, limitations, applicability and feedbacks. He rose to an unexpected height with his ’Grameen Bank-based micro-credit concept that brought him Nobel Peace Prize 2006. Other side of the coin is that he could not stand by the down-trodden because of the actual feedbacks of the operation of it. Publicity and popularity, mostly fluid by nature, cannot be the measuring rod of the success and sustainability of a noble vision because, truly speaking, ‘Real is more ideal than ideal itself’.

In fact, business means risks, predictable or unpredictable, which otherwise passes a clear message ‘either you gain or lose or remain at par’. But ill luck would have it, our forerunner Dr. Yunus does not believe in loss or even in at par and therefore, profits, anyhow profits shall continue as the moot point in his vision and mission, but, ironically enough, service to humanity being manifested, voiced and carried through his ends and means asks for sacrifices and dedications from the ‘self’ that turn the self into ‘selfless’ in the true sense of the term.

In the context of Grameen Bank micro-credit scheme unfolding truth is more attention-grabbing and ill-digesting. In this micro-credit lending a loan is approved under certain water-tight terms and conditions and one of them is to repay it plus interest at the rate of almost 40% on average and installments shall continue on weekly basis. Repayment, also the central theme of such loan, has to be made anyhow; no excuse even on humanitarian ground is tolerable. System of recovery is very tough, rigid and unsound. How is it really practicable to ensure the targeted profits and repay the weekly installment? How many creditors are in a position to meet with the requirements? More thrills are that a borrower is free to take loans from other or more than one lending NGOs. When he finds that he is not in a position to repay an installment(s) timely or is likely to become a defaulter, he then takes loan (s) from other lending NGO(s) and repays the old installment first without paying much attention to the proper use of the newly borrowed capital for which it has been taken and so practicing and exhausting all the possible avenues, he in the long run gets caught in a vicious circle of loan defaulter and thus a sense of frustration, insecurity and phobia, instead of optimism and security, start hunting him all the time. Such practices, which, are, in fact, encouraged by the former lender(s) for its own interest, make him idle also since by getting cash he does not fell to work hard until the cash minus repayment(s) is exhausted. What a wonderful device to alleviate poverty! Let me sound here again on a high volume that ‘Real is more ideal than ideal itself’.

I am not against micro-credit drives because I also believe that it is one of the best initiatives to alleviate poverty and to put it on track as real tool or weapon there is no better alternative but to revisit the whole from within with a view to upholding the spirit and mission in true perspective going, of course, beyond so-called reports, documents, publications and advertisements most of which are bureaucratic or ordered focusing only one side of the coin i.e. stories of successes.

Opening the door at the call of time does not mean closing the eyes to ‘in and around’. Look at India, the largest multi-party democratic country in the world, and see how NGOS, in particular, NGOs, international or supported by foreign fund, have to work under strict laws and rules and then have a glimpse of Bangladesh where NGOs, local or international or supported by foreign fund, and see how they play a vital role even in shaping and molding the contents of politics and the government. Roles of NGOs are both blessings for and challenging to the very purposes of politics aimed at the well-being of the people and safeguarding the interests and sovereignty of a nation-state. There should be more studies and researches in these sectors so that truth and reality are well-reflected, which will help a lot to the policy-makers and decision-makers to understand, realize the defects and feedbacks. Otherwise, ongoing drives against poverty or drives for poverty alleviation shall suffer more. Focus on NGOs from the same angle as another landmark content of politics that requires to be revisited duly.

Relevantly enough, it is notable here that Dr. Yunus once presented a pen-picture of an ideal state and society while delivering speeches as the Chief Guest at the opening ceremony of a political party ‘Samridah Bangladesh’, translated into ‘Flourished Bangladesh’ floated by one of the leading but highly hot business tycoons Salman F; Rahman, then President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) possibly before or shortly after 2000 at Dhaka. He made an open call to the party to work and move as possible carrier of the goals and objectives to build a happy and prosperous Bangladesh. His possible means to ends was nipped in the bud with the immediate demise of the party. It was, if viewed otherwise, also a kind of failure for choosing the very means as a road to his ends (vision) because he could not realize and foresee that the persons with and around the party were not committed and promising to do and materialize what he was longing for.

In 2007, he himself took a very drastic initiative to float a political party under the banner of Citizens' Forum (Bengali: Nagarik Samiti), also known as Citizens' power(Bengali: Nagorik Shokti (There was a speculation in the air that the original plan of the army-backed CTG was to implement the minus 2 (something imported from Pakistan) and put  in the end Dr. Yunus in power) at the backdrop of the failures of the political parties in Bangladesh to uphold the continuity of the parliamentary democratic process through people at his call; he left the field with a sense of frustration and desperateness and decided to continue wholly with Grammeen Bank. Again, for the second time he failed miserably for the reason of non-response of the people. All these carry a message that either he failed to understand the pulse of the people and music of politics in Bangladesh’s perspective or he is not in position to mix and continue with the people as a man of politics, which he never tried in life.

He might have a lesson from the reality in the domain of politics, which is not a bed of rises.  If a person wans to serve people, yes, there are lot of avenues to do so starting from micro to macro, local to national to regional to international compacts and contexts. Doing something remaining within the fold of non-political hemisphere and doing the same thing from the fold and station of political domain do not carry the same weight, importance, challenges and message. Politics of a party in a multi-party democracy presupposes necessarily antagonism and opposition by other political parties and forces in the field since it is directly aimed at sitting in the chair of power in a state and then, if voted to power, transforms all its vision into reality based its electoral manifest and programs in particular. From this standpoint, a political party stays in a better and safer standing about its beating the drum of development and welfare to the people strengthening, defending and upholding the sovereignty and position of the state in issue nationally, regionally and internationally. But challenges of a non-political body and NGO aimed at the welfare and development of a people do not presupposes any seat of power in line with a political party. That’s why, politics stands at the top of all kinds of services to the people and state and a political activist in a true sense is weighed and measured on a balance of sacrifices, dedications, and altruism in its own modes and perspective. A political activist pointedly in the opposition has to face intimidation, cases involving also torture and detention, mostly political and fabricated in nature, harassments and so forth. If he is an industrialist or businessperson sometimes he has to grapple with commercial or business sanctions in various ways. So, vision and mission in politics and the same in a NGO differs a lot on many a ground.

Dr. Yunus is such a person who does not believe in sitting idle. His vision and mission are on in an ending manner with different taste and flavor. Now he is surrounded by flocks of admirers, supporters and sponsors under the cap and slogan of ‘social businesses’. Is it really possible for him to achieve the goals with the means he has chosen deliberately? It is sensitive and stimulus as a slogan and presupposes supports of politics (there was a call to devise a political frame at the three-day Third International Conference in Vienna in November, 2011) but nothing new at all and, to speak the truth, I am startled, frightened to think whether he is being used by any vested quarter(s) to make it stand as a pressing but dependable alternative to capitalism at the same time being or having been within the fold of capitalism!! If his drive succeeds at all, even then there is every possibility of its being marked and branded as a SOS for the salvation of new liberalism, extreme financialisation and leverages (in the name of capitalism proper, which, to speak the truth, has never been allowed to grow and move in accordance with its natural course of development) in the face of the extreme crises and challenges it has ever experienced.

Fundamentals of Inductive logic tell us that (a) nothing comes out of nothing. Every event/occurrence is a result of multiple causes, immediate or distant. For example, if a bomb explodes then it needs to be noted carefully that it does not explode only for the immediate reason of its switching on but also for the reasons of its planting in that very mode and direction and, above all, the human brain behind all the plans and technicalities must be taken into account and (b) nature behaves in the same way under the similar circumstances, which implies that if there is a rain today, there shall be rain tomorrow provided the same weather takes place again. That’s why, instead of going for any kind of SOS services to face the crises in the fold of capitalism, let the leaders of G-20 and EU face the challenging question emanating from the reality is that ‘Has capitalism as a model really failed? Or ‘Has it been strangulated by the political leaderships of ‘Oligarchy’ in the name of so-called multi-party ‘Democracy’ allowing unchecked monopolistic corporate Dinosaurs to grab the very concept and purposes of welfare state paving further, to our utter surprise, the way for consolidating and cementing the standing and march of corporationist state?

Definitely, capitalism as an ideological content and model of politics has been made subservient to those forces that are matured, clever and cunning enough to turn it into their self-targeted ideological content and model of sweet-heaven squeezing ambits of the powers and functions of state. Hence, the concept of ‘less interference by the state means more development’ is both theoretically and operationally another ill-motivated weapon being made and used by them and their think-tanks, researchers, propagandists and advertisements in a very planned, concerted and convincing manners, modes and fashions. With such lacking in the enterprise, yes, Dr. Yunus should also bear in mind that it is certain to meet with another debacle.

Here he must be in no doubt that it is not a question of bringing religion emotionally and unnecessarily in the domain of his vision and mission rather it’s an impetus and practical technique to get one overhauled from within. Fear of religion comes from ‘not-understanding or misunderstanding of religion’. Weights and values of religion are more important than merely keeping distance from it. Let us all have a taste of religion in life spanning from individual to collective under all the circumstances. Crises of civilization and time also lie in disowning the link between religion and life, between religion and politics, between religion and development. Time has come to tell us publicly that so-called secularism is leading to no-religion from where a kind of nihilism is definite to crop up, which is not good for any individual, group, community, state and civilization.

I pay tribute to Dr. Yunus for his unflinching commitments, sincerity and relentless endeavors. Therefore, with the profoundest regards and love for him. I do make a fervent call to him to pay due attention to this very domain of religion as one of the fundamental tools of development since his ends (vision) for the ‘third time’ has been set in motion taking apparently less profit-seekers called ‘social businessmen/investors/entrepreneurs’ as means (medium) to reach at the goal. There is no denying the fact that Dr. Yunus is a man and he is not above errors and mistakes. He has to drink life to the lees for the longevity and usefulness of his vision and mission. Yes, this new addition may take him to the height of light, more and more light.