The 11th KISS Humanitarian Award 2018 was presented to Prof Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace laureate (2006) and founder of Grameen Bank & Chairman, Yunus Centre, Bangladesh on Friday. KIIT & KISS president Saswati Bal and founder Dr Achyuta Samanta presented the award in the presence of a host of dignitaries and a large audience at a glittering presentation ceremony at the KIIT University.
The award citation recognised Prof Yunus’s unwavering commitment to eradicate global poverty and foster economic and social development. “like a true humanitarian, you felt the suffering and helplessness of the poor and dreamt of a poverty-free world; and have been tirelessly working to create the world of your dreams. Your recent work focuses on achieving zero illiteracy, poverty and hunger, which are very similar to the goals Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) has been espousing for the last 26 years”, the KISS citation mentioned.
In his acceptance speech, Prof Yunus called for imagining a system that creates wealth for everybody in the world. “A vast majority of 99% population owns only 1% of the world’s wealth. In India, the privileged 1% is holding 73% of wealth. You should imagine the wildest imagination because only imagination brings change. When Dr Samanta started KISS in early 1990s, he didn’t have anything but only imagination and dream. KISS is a dream Dr Samanta turned into reality.” KISS and Grameen Bank are products of wild imaginations that were pursued relentlessly, he stated.
He further said, “It is an amazing experience to visit this great institution. I went around different campuses of KIIT & KISS and it is like a dreamland. So much has been created in such a short time by Dr Samanta! It is like a magic. He has taken very brave action to provide quality education to thousands of socially-isolated and underprivileged children through KISS. In fact, Dr Samanta is the most deserving person to get the humanitarian award.”
Prof Yunus is the second Nobel laureate to accept this award. last year, it was presented to the 14th Dalai lama, also a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Prof Yunus, is a Bangladeshi economist, widely known as the Father of Microfinance. He was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 along with Grameen Bank, the microcredit organisation he created to provide loans to the poor in Bangladesh. His model of microcredit has been successfully replicated in more than 100 countries providing lifeline to millions of poor, especially women.
Dr Samanta remarked, “He (Prof Yunus) has been working to remove intergenerational poverty for over last four decades. It is an honour to present him the 11th KISS Humanitarian Award.” The Yunus Centre would sign an MoU with the KISS for promoting social business, he informed.