It is a silent revolution, says Mohd Yunus

New Delhi, Jan 29 (UNI) Nobel Laureate and Founder of Bangladesh Rural Gramin Bank Mohammad Yunus today said people in two-thirds of the world were being deprived of the benefit of the financial insitutions.

"It is financial Apartheid,"he observed speaking at the inaugural function of the two-day international conference organised by the Congress to mark the centenary of the Satyagraha Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi.

Mr Yunus, who founded Rural Gramin Bank in 1976 to provide micro credit to the poor people and made them self dependent, said 60 per cent of the world population was living on 6 per cent of the world income.

He said in Bangladesh 90 per cent of those who had been advanced micro credit through the Rural Gramin Bank were women in the villages. The repayment rate of these loans was 99 per cent. As many as 58 per cent of the beneficiaries had crossed the poverty line. "We have improved the lives of the poor through the provision of micro credit.It is a silent non-violent revolution." Micro credit worth six billion US dollars had so far been advanced to the poor through Rural Gramin Banks, he said.

Mr Yunus said the rural bank had brought about economic change and changes in their families. Women have greater say in the participation. "We have made great strides in human development." UNI