Any initiative backed by a political institution and intention, would not achieve the desired result of serving the common man.
The pre-condition of success is its management by a private entity with ownership shared between the promoters and the common people.
"An initiative backed and monitored by a political institution like a government cannot deliver the desired result. The moment government steps in, people take things for granted," Noble laureate Muhammad Yunus warned.
Answering to the question raised by the Mayor of Kolkata, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, regarding the failure of micro credit in the state, at a felicitation ceremony organised by the Asia Heart Foundation, he said once the people know that any policy of giving credit is being backed and monitored by the government, they do not feel the need to return the money.
According to him the mindset of the people would be "I vote for you, then why shall I return money."
Commenting on the land acquisition problem, Yunus said that the one possible solution might be giving the shares of the company to owners of land.
"One must take the poor farmers into the confidence, they must not feel deprived and a feeling of oneness must be cultivated. If they are given a
part of the ownership by means of the shares of the company, then they might readily give the land for their own company," he said.
The Noble peace prize winner also added that sometimes the conventional methods cannot solve a particular problem and hence planners should look for innovative approaches.
Taking his own institution, Grameen Bank, as an example he said, "Grameen Bank methodology is almost the reverse of the conventional banking methodology. Conventional banking is based on the principle that the more you have, the more you can get. In other words, if you have little or nothing, you get nothing. As a result, more than half the population of the world is deprived of the financial services of conventional banks".
Conventional banking is based on collateral, Grameen system is collateral- free. Grameen Bank starts with the belief that credit should be accepted as a human right, and builds a system where a person without any possession can get the highest priority in getting a loan.
"Grameen methodology is not based on assessing the material possession of a person but is based on the potential of a person. Grameen Bank believes that all human beings, including the poorest, are endowed with endless potential," he added.
