Muhammad Yunus urges to make society equitable by creating more entrepreneurs, during events in three cities in India
DHAKA, Jan. 29 (NsNewsWire) — Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus visited and spoke in three major cities of India – Kolkata, Delhi and Jaipur – last week.
He was invited to Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, which was held in association with The Telegraph. The setting of the talk was with the backdrop of the Victoria Memorial on 22 January, 2018. At two different speaking events, he spoke about his latest book in the literary meet, A World of Three Zeroes, which focuses addressing the enormous social and economic challenges facing our planet, and creating a world with zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions.
Professor Yunus said that he believed that young generation need not follow the previous generation. “The young generation has to create their own world. Living in the inherited world is no option. You have to take charge of yourself. Stay on course, know what you want. And it will be done if you make up your mind,” he said at the literary meet.
He then went to Delhi after his Kolkata Literary Meet, where he had a meeting with Ashoka University to discuss social business collaboration with Yunus Centre and Yunus Social Business India. Ashoka University is an innovative multi-disciplinary university located an hour outside Delhi, focused on creating graduates who are successful entrepreneurs and societal change makers. Ashoka has also announced its intention to create a Yunus Social Business Centre at the university the agreement for which will be signed on the campus in April.
While in Delhi, Professor Yunus also addressed a meeting of the board and members of Impact Investing Council, the policy advisory body of the impact investing community in India, comprising of important business people and policy makers at the Nehru Museum and Library.
Later in the week, Professor Muhammad Yunus participated in the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) on 25th Januray, 2018. He was interviewed on stage by economist Mihir Sharma to a packed audience. While talking on his new book he told that “Poverty is not a problem with the poor people. It’s externally imposed on them. People need economic oxygen. Since it is not available for them, they cannot breathe. If you connect them with financial oxygen, suddenly they become alive. The entire financial system in the world is not poor-people friendly,” According to Yunus, all people are entrepreneurial but the financial world does not recognize that. He believes that society can be more equitable only by creating new entrepreneurs.
Later, a special convocation was held to confer Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa on Professor Yunus at Amity University Rajasthan on 26 January which is also India’s Republic Day. During the convocation Dr Aseem Chauhan, the Chancellor of the university announced that Amity would establish a Yunus Social Business Centre (YSBC) at each one of their ten universities in India, which have 40 campuses across the country and 15 international campuses in 15 countries. The Chancellor also announced that the first YSBC they establish in Rajasthan campus would provide two PhD scholarships in social business. Professor Yunus in his acceptance remarks encouraged the students to imagine the world they wish to live in and urged them to build that new world.
While in India, Professor Yunus had interviews with several major media such as the Indian Express, NDTV, The Statesman, Outlook India, Hindustan Times and many others. Press Release