Nobel Laureate Mohd Yunus dreams of poverty-free Bangladesh

Pune, Nov 17 (UNI) Declaring his dream of establishing a poverty-free Bangladesh by 2030, Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus today said 'Poverty Museums' would be established in the country to remind its future generations the commitment of never letting the country face deprivation again.

Speaking after inaugurating the International Hi-Tech Agri week at the Pune Agriculture University complex here, Dr Yunus said given the present statistics, when poverty was on a steady decline of two per cent a year, Bangladesh would have to achieve the decline rate of 2.5 per cent to achieve 50 per cent poverty alleviation and eradicate poverty completely by 2030 to be ahead of the millennium development goal.

Stressing the need for visionary leadership to provide the right direction to the development and progress of a community, Dr Yunus said leaders are needed to provide the right environment where people can improve their product and explore their potential to the fullest. ''Bangladeshis are hardworking and enterprising people.

But, what we lack is good leaders to help us to move faster. I envy India for this,'' he said.

Dr Yunus said he was leading the self-help groups and micro finance credit movement in Bangladesh for more than three decades, but the country's leaders never paid attention to his work in the field of rural development and poverty alleviation, he added. MORE UNI