Society collapses due to wealth, power concentration: Yunus at BIMSTEC Young Gen Forum
He also called on youths to build themselves as "three-zero persons" to protect the planet from destruction
Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus today (3 April) said a society collapses sooner or later if there is a concentration of wealth and power.
"Unless wealth is shared, you cannot sustain a society," he said while delivering his keynote speech at the BIMSTEC Young Gen Forum, reports UNB.
Yunus, who created microcredit, invented social business, and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in alleviating poverty, is currently on a two-day visit to attend the BIMSTEC Summit on Friday.
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Thailand is hosting the 6th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and Bangladesh will take responsibility as the next chair of BIMSTEC on Friday.
Thailand has taken over the BIMSTEC Chairmanship from Sri Lanka since 30 March 2022.
Talking about the new civilisation, Yunus said businesses should not be greed driven and that is the first condition of the new civilisation.
He also called on youths to build themselves as "three-zero persons" to protect the planet from destruction, reports BSS.
"If we want to provide service, we will have to go to a new civilisation of three zeros – zero carbon emission, zero waste and zero wealth concentration."
Yunus said the world is approaching a self-destructive civilisation as carbon emission, waste generation and wealth concentration continue applying the old economic models.
Mentioning that human beings are not born to work under anybody else but they were born to be entrepreneurs, he asked the young generation to keep entrepreneurship in mind.
Calling the present young generation as the most powerful generation in the world, the 2006 Noble Peace Laureate said, "Life is about preservation and protection and that is why the new civilisation of three zeros should be created."
About the importance of three-zero clubs, he said once five persons get together, they can create a three-zero club where they will not personally contribute to carbon emission, waste generation and wealth concentration, and they will be three-zero persons.
"You cannot change the world in a day...if you want to change, start from your village," the chief adviser told youths.
In his speech, Yunus recalled the journey of the Grameen Bank, which has already brought thousands of rural poor women out of poverty.
He mentioned that when a famine hit Bangladesh in 1974 after its independence, he was thinking about how he could do something for the country.
As a result, the chief adviser said he thought of doing something for a small village next to Chittagong University where he was a teacher.
Highlighting the challenges that he faced during the initial stage of the Grameen Bank, he said, "There was suspicion over it but luckily I could speak local dialect so there was no language difference."
He said, for the first time, he disbursed money equivalent to one dollar to a woman and that was the beginning of the journey, and later a village bank (Grameen Bank) was established.
Terming the rights to credit as human rights, the Grameen Bank founder observed that if the rights to credit are ensured, other rights could be established.
About social business, he said the social business is to solve social problems where it does not accumulate wealth.
Yunus also expressed deep condolences over the loss of lives in a recent earthquake that severely hit Myanmar.
