The news is pleasantly breaking. Widely acclaimed Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is visiting Assam to grace the forthcoming Bodoland International Knowledge Festival to be held at Kokrajhar kick starting on 27 February 2023. Prof Yunus will address the inaugural function of the four-day unique festival, organized for the first time by the Bodoland Territorial Region in Bodoland University. Widely acclaimed as a banker to the poor, Prof Yunus was honoured with the Nobel peace prize (along with the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh in 2006). The soft-spoken Bangladeshi gentleman conceptualized the small (micro) loans to the women borrowers without any collateral a few decades back. A revolutionary economist turned a successful banker and a social entrepreneur turned civil society leader, Dr Yunus used to teach in Chittagong University of south Bangladesh. Some valuable books were also penned by the creator of social business, whom I had the opportunity to meet two decades back in Dhaka.
Days back, Prof Yunus published a wish list of his dream world where the first one was that ‘there would be no poor people, no beggar, no homeless people and no street children anywhere in the world’. In another step, he believes that every country on Earth will have its own poverty museum. The global poverty museum will be located in the country that is the last to come out of poverty. With no passport and no visa anybody can move anywhere in the world. All people will be truly global citizens of equal status. There will be no war, no war preparations and no military establishment to fight wars. There will be no nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction.
The global economic system will encourage individuals, businesses and institutions to share their prosperity and participate actively in bringing prosperity to others, making income inequality an irrelevant issue. Unemployment and welfare will be unheard of. Social business will be a substantial part of the business world. There will be only one global currency. Coins and paper currency will be gone. Technology will be available with which all secret bank accounts and transactions of politicians, government officials, business people, intelligence agencies, underworld organizations and terrorist groups can be easily detected and monitored. State of the art financial services of every kind will be available to every individual.
There will be no more incurable diseases, from cancer to AIDS, anywhere in the world. Disease will become a very rare phenomenon subject to immediate and effective treatment. High-quality healthcare will be available to everyone. Infant mortality and maternal mortality will be things of the past. There will be a global education system accessible to all from anywhere in the world. All children will experience fun and excitement in learning and growing up. All children will grow up as caring and sharing persons, believing that their own development should be consistent with the development of others in the world. All people will be committed to maintaining a sustainable lifestyle based on appropriate technologies. Humans will be able to forecast earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis and other natural disasters.
All cultures, ethnic groups and religions will flourish to their full beauty, contributing to the magnificent unified orchestra of human society. There will be no discrimination of any kind, whether based on race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political belief, language, culture or any other factor. There will be no need for paper and therefore no need to cut down trees. There will be biodegradable reusable synthetic papers, in cases where paper is absolutely needed. Basic connectivity will be wireless and nearly costless. Everybody will read and hear everything in his own language. Technology will make it possible for a person to speak, read and write in his own language while the listener will hear and the reader will read the message in his own language. Software and gadgets will translate simultaneously as one speaks or downloads any text.
Should not everyone living on the planet prepare a wish list, where it reflects a future world of their dreams? Would the forthcoming visit of Prof Yunus inspire all of us to join in the mission to create a peaceful and progressive world for the entire human race.