Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen bank and nobel prize winner, is all set to become the head of Bangladesh’s interim government. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate economist, arrived in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon, to be sworn in as the new interim prime minister of Bangladesh. As the country reels in the aftermath of an unprecedented student-led movement, which led to the resignation of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the military, opposition and student leaders reached a consensus when it came to asking the 84-year-old known as the ‘banker of the poor’ to lead the first attempt at a new government. World leaders watch on to see if the decision to award the top position to Yunus, in this transitional period for Bangladesh, will work out. Fears of military rule, atrocities against minorities and anarchy have been at the forefront of concerns, as Bangladesh seeks to redefine itself after 15 years of Sheikh Hasina’s government. Let us take a look at the economist and leader, who is set to take over a country in crisis. Early life:- Born in the village of Bathua in 1940, in the pre-independence undivided Bengal presidency, Muhammad Yunus was the third of nine children in a merchant family. His father, Haji Dulaa Mia Sawdagar, was a jeweller. Though born in a village, he spent his core educational years in the port city of Chittagong, where he was an active Boy Scout and got the opportunity to travel to Pakistan and India in 1952. He later broadened his horizons and visited Europe, the USA, Canada, the Philippines and Japan by 1959. During these years of exploration, he was also enrolled at Dhaka University since 1957, completing his bachelor’s degree in 1960 and master’s degree in 1961. Soon after, he joined the Bureau of Economics at Dhaka University as a research assistant and in less than a year became a professor at Chittagong College. After receiving a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States in 1965, he got a PhD in economic development from Vanderbilt University in 1971. Till 1972, he was an assistant professor in Economics at Middle Tennessee State University.
Bangladesh’s war of liberation
As Bangladesh’s war for liberation began in 1971, Yunus ran a communications centre for Bangladeshi awaiting news outside the country. He also published the Bangladesh Newsletter in Nashville, to raise support for the movement.
