October 13, 2006 turned out to be a historic day for Bangladesh. The news that Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank received the world's most prestigious prize-the Nobel Peace Prize-made the headlines in leading print and electronic media around the world.

The world's popular news channel, CNN, provided extensive coverage of Dr. Yunus and Grameen Bank throughout the day. While BBC failed to make it a story on its UK Television, with most Bangladeshis in Britain tuning in to CNN and Bangladeshi cable channels for updates, its website nonetheless contained considerable information on the topic.

Rumours had rippled across the globe for some years that Dr. Yunus might win a Nobel Prize and that that would be in Economics. Since he was not an activist nor was he involved in resolving conflicts per se, Yunus's winning the prize in peace instead was a surprise to many.

Washington Post writes, "Yunus and the bank were surprise winners among the 191 nominees for the most prestigious of the Nobel awards." The Financial Times observes, "The peace prize, often won by statesmen and humanitarian agencies, has never been awarded to a financial institution or banker before."

But this semantic dimension to Nobel Peace is not without precedent. The New York Times states, "This year's peace prize was another that fell under a broader definition of peace-awarded by the committee not for traditional conflict resolution, but rather development work. Another example of such award was in 2004 when the peace prize went to a Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Maathai."

And Associated Press deciphers the link: "The award marked a shift in emphasis for the five-member Nobel Committee towards rewarding those who work towards reducing poverty which in turn attacks the roots of conflict."

Micro-credit a Panacea?

There is a growing perception in foreign media that micro-credit is one of the most successful and important tools of poverty alleviation. "Yunus and the Grameen Bank are hardly household names outside of Bangladesh, but Yunus has been one of the world's most prominent and renowned leaders of poverty alleviation. The Grameen Bank model has been duplicated in more than 100 countries, from Uganda to Malaysia to Chicago's South Side," says a report in Washington Post.

Guardian Unlimited underpins the impact: "Such was his [Yunus'] reputation that in 1987, when Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, he approached Mr Yunus to help them replicate its model in his state."

Many reports also touch upon some of the vital issues addressed by Grameen. Timesonline states, "Professor Yunus, who makes a point of never giving money to beggars but is prepared to offer them loans, believes that the only way to defeat poverty is helping people to help themselves. The mindset [in the West] is 'Here is some money, go away.' It's just like with a beggar. They dish out money but that money is going to the rich and corrupt. You have to rethink the way you do business to get people out of poverty."

Some would even see in micro-credit the humanitarian face of a capitalist economy. A report in Guardian Unlimited points out, "The Grameen Bank, like any capitalist enterprise, saw a market that had been neglected and went after it. But Mr. Yunus was not just a capitalist; he was also interested in development. With Grameen, he created a vehicle that combined capitalism and social responsibility."

Guardian Unlimited also ran an article by one of Yunus's staunch critics. Salil Tripathi is a writer based in London who was a regional economics correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review in Singapore. In his article 'Microcredit won't make poverty history' Salil concedes that small loans can empower women but argues, "Don't expect them to help the very poorest, no matter what the Nobel judges say." He points out that 'micro-finance is good' but claims that it 'has more to do with social politics than economics.' He goes on to say that 'Grameen model' is not necessarily applicable worldwide. "While it has been hugely successful in Bangladesh's trade-dominated economy, results in more agrarian economies, such as India or many parts of Africa, are mixed at best. That's why, to appreciate Grameen's real worth, we need to look at its role in empowering women."

But there are others that have a different take on Grameen. The Financial Times reads, "While many microfinance organisations have struggled to attain scale and profitability, Grameen's business model is in rude health. Its loan portfolio exceeds that of the entire microfinance sector in India by a factor of two and its return on equity last year reached 21 per cent, up from 9 per cent in 2004."