Talk:Grameen Bank

The first paragraph states "He was inspired during the terrible Bangladesh famine of 1974 to ..."

Who is this "He" being referred to? Is it Muhammad Yunus? If so, then it should be stated explicitly, as that name does not appear until the fourth paragraph. Omission of this piece of information causes confusion at the very start of the article.

TheParanoidOne 22:21, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC) Thanks, I clarified the sentence to show Yunus indeed founded the bank this way. Rtgarden 13 April 2005

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Why is it called Grameen? Is that someone's name, or does it have a meaning in Bangladeshi? Mamawrites 11:13, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

I think the article mentions that ... the word "Grameen" means "pertaining to villages" or "of the village/for the village"). The Bank's main activities involve the poor people from villages, that's probably why Yunus named it so. Thanks. --Ragib 13:07, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

In what language? This is not mentioned in the article, so if you'd like to edit to insert it, it'd be a valuable contribution. Mamawrites 10:45, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, I added it. The word "Grameen" comes from the Bengali language (also known as Bangla). --Ragib 14:54, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Great! I hope you don't mind, I moved it, because I don't think the information is important enough to go in the introductory section. (And I fixed the link to Bangla. It looks like this article is well positioned to be selected next in the improvement drive!Mamawrites 19:59, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Grameen means "rural" in Bengali, per http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2006/10/13/nobel_peace_winner_has_phd_from_vanderbilt -Grammaticus Repairo 17:47, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

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The article on poverty eradication, more extreme than poverty alleviation or poverty reduction needs to be created and/or the strategy of the bank should be called poverty reduction, meaning that this article could need further elaboration.Brz7

criticism

I am a rather major fan of the concept - and the role that Grameen appears to have played in Bangladesh's development. Is it possible to start a section talking about the socio-cultural impact of Grameen? And also, it would be useful to have examples of how the system is or is not immune to abuse or even corruption (Bangladesh being apparently amongst the most corrupt countries!). How wonderful to see this well-written page.  ^freedomAnnawright 16:54, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

Go ahead. Wikipedia expects users to be bold and make changes, for the better. Thanks. --Ragib 17:19, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

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The Bangla version of the bank's name, in the first sentence of the article, seems to have gone wrong: can anyone fix? I don't know any Bangla.

--Sam Clark 13:31, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

It looks fine to me, are you sure you have a font that contains the necessary charset? You might want to try something like Code2000 if you're not sure (See Unicode typefaces) Nil Einne 09:45, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

I think I read on an AP article today a quote from a bangladeshi economist who argues that the Grameen bank's interest rates are too high. Borisblue 06:05, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Ownership

Can somebody please explain (in the article) how the borrowers can be the owners? Borrowers take money out of an institution; ownership usually means having equity by having put money into an institution? mglg_(talk) 20:32, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

I am curious as well on this matter. It doesn't make much sense as an economic entity. To explain in layman term, "Owner" means either the person is an investor or someone who purchased ownership from founding investor. Because lender didn't put any money into this bank, it is unfitting for them to be owner.

Theoretically, it is possible for the founder to give the shares to the lender as charity, but such an entity would fail because the lenders can vote to dissolve organization and not having to pay back. --Voidvector 23:13, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

GA Candidacy - comments

In order for this article to be awarded good article status several issues need to be addressed:

• Several sentences are marked with 'citation needed', in most cases the tag is justified. It must have these citations.
• The 16 principles should be described, currently there is only a link.
• The ownership-issue which was also addressed by several users on this talkpage needs to be researched and explained. Why is the majority of equity held by the banks debtors? Is there some requirement for them to buy stock in the grameen bank?
• Information that compares Grameen bank to other banks: how high is their interest rate, how long is the average credit period.
• Number of employees?

If these changes are made, I believe it could be awarded GA status.--DorisHノート 23:05, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

I have a comment of my own to make, why is the template asking for expert attention on this subject, is something missing? Homestarmy 04:14, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

On second thought, the details that I asked for: legal structure and business-related details, are typical requirements for class-A-level, where an expert reviews the article. The article looks fine now, it is broad in its coverage and mentions all important aspects.

I moved the uncited statements to talk, they can be re-added later with a citation. The article is neutral and stable, it is well written and adequately structured. The images are fine and there are no licence problems. It's a good article.--DorisHノート 18:58, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I removed the article as part of the GA Sweeps because a vast part of the article was self-sourced. Secondly the lead needs to be enlarged to better summarise info. Blnguyen (bananabucket) 07:24, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Removed statements that need a (better) source

Former Finance Minister of Bangladesh, Saifur Rahman, commented that giving the poor some money does not make them well off. They are suceptible when larger corporations take over. He also mentioned that Bangladesh's rapid GDP growth had more to do with industrializaiton of large companies (hence giving the poor more jobs) rather than keeping them tied to their agrarian roots with microcredit. The organisation has also been criticised for exploiting the traditional social positions of Women in Bangladeshi rural society to enforce repayments. This leads to enormous pressure on female borrowers. [1]

Interest rates

There is a good article in Today's Daily Prothom Alo, in the editorials/op-ed page. A Deputy Managing Director has explained the interest rate structure for Grameen Bank in detail. --Ragib 05:23, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I am afraid this is in Bengali language [2]. Maybe you could summarize it and add it to the article with a citation?--DorisHノート 10:00, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Criticism

Please note I have moved two seperate sections both about the Criticism section in the main article into one and answered both questions. --Logiboy123 (talk) 00:46, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Do you call this a good article? well mostly, maybe...but I think that the "criticsm" section is awful! Sorry if I am that direct.. but what that part tells is untrue! I understand that the president of Bangladesh may have said those words..but this doesn't mean that it is reasonable to report it... I think that the neutral point of view requires to either erase that part or put more reasonable criticism! 5th june 2007 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.208.36.87 (talk • contribs)

As far are Criticism sections go, this one is pretty tame. Almost all articles dealing with this level of business / programs require a criticism section. After reading the comments from three different experts I would say that their opinion based observations are interesting and valid. At the same time this section leaves the reader with the question "Is this program / business better for the community or not?" and provokes the reader to investigate further. That is a good thing. Feel free to rewrite the section for better flow, but I would be extremely reluctant to see the section disappear. How exactly does this section violate the NPOV requirement? --Logiboy123 (talk) 00:46, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Do we really need this libertarian criticism section? I'm all for a comprehensive representation of criticism pertaining to the Grameen Bank (preferably not microcredit as a whole), but this quote is outlandish and doesn't represent anything aside from Tucker's myopic interpretation of the program. Anon 16:30, 5 November, 2006

Yes. All programs have their detractors and the comments are not ignorant of the program itself and highlight some possible flaws. No system is perfect and the flaws should be visible just as the benefits are. Many people will ask themselves how a business that does not charge interest can keep providing services. This is a valid point and a valid criticism of the program, whilst not demanding that everyone agree. Further the criticism portion of the article is in balance with the rest of the article and does not dominate. --Logiboy123 (talk) 00:46, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

New Informantions

Caretaker Government of Bangladesh amended Grameen Bank ordinance to allow the bank to extend their activities all over the country. The government reduced it share from 25 to 15 percent. There would be two government nominated members in the board of directors of the bank instead of two and from now on board of directors would elect their chairman themselves. Reference. Please include this informantions in proper places. Regards--Tarif from Bangladesh 11:40, 7 October 2007 (UTC)