'Banker to the poorest of the poor': Who is Muhammad Yunus, chosen as chief adviser to Bangladesh interim govt?

Muhammad Yunus served a jail term for six months this year for allegedly violating the labour laws.

Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus said on August 6 he is ready to head a caretaker government, a day after the military took control as mass protests forced long-time ruler Sheikh Hasina to flee.

"If action is needed in Bangladesh, for my country and for the courage of my people, then I will take it," he told news agency AFP in a statement.

In a video posted on social media early Tuesday morning, Nahid Islam, one of the key coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said Yunus has agreed to take on this crucial responsibility. Bangladesh descended into chaos on Monday as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina surreptitiously resigned and fled the country in a military aircraft. The Army stepped in to fill the power vacuum and announced the formation of the interim government.

Born on June 28, 1940, in Chittagong, Yunus is a social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader. According to the website nobelprize.org, Yunus received his PhD in economics from Vanderbilt in 1969. Later, he became an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University.

Following his return to Bangladesh, Yunus headed the economics department at Chittagong University. From 1993 to 1995, he was a member of the International Advisory Group for the Fourth World Conference on Women.

He was also part of the Global Commission of Women’s Health, the Advisory Council for Sustainable Economic Development, and the UN Expert Group on Women and Finance.

In response to the 1974 famine in Bangladesh, Yunus initiated long-term loans to help individuals start their own small ventures. This led to the formation of the Grameen Bank.  Known as the "banker to the poorest of the poor," Yunus (83) and the Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2006. The prize was given for their work in microcredit and microfinance.

In 2007, he floated a political party named ‘Nagarik Shakti’. But he ruled out any possibility of contesting elections again.

Yunus also served a jail term for six months this year for allegedly violating the labour laws. Yunus, who has been charged by the Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government in over 190 cases.

“We were an occupied country as long as she (Sheikh Hasina) was there. She was behaving like an occupation force, a dictator, a general, controlling everything. Today all the people of Bangladesh feel liberated,” Muhammad Yunus told ThePrint in an interview.