Can there be a world without Poverty?

Unlikely. And I have my reasons.

Can there be a world without evil? The answer is no. Without evil, ‘good’ will lose its meaning. For anything to exist, there has to be something opposite. Without sadness, happiness cannot exist. Without death, life cannot exist. And likewise, someone has to be poor for someone rich to exist.

Therefore, the idea of eliminating poverty to me is a false concept which only helps developed countries in acquiring power and control over poor developing countries. That happens mostly by lending through multilateral lending agencies like World Bank in the name of alleviating poverty.

One cannot eliminate poverty. But one can indeed create a system where being poor doesn’t necessarily have to mean – being devoid of the basic necessities of life.

I finished reading this book by Md. Yunus called Creating a World Without Poverty sometime back. I might not agree with the title of the book, but I quite liked his approach towards his dream. I think everyone who believes that it is not enough to earn money for oneself, should read this book – because Yunus shows you how it can be done. I would especially urge those who realize that making loads of money and then donating part of it to charity is certainly not the best way to live life, to catch up with the concept of Social business (and no, it is not the same as social entrepreneurship) that Yunus proposes and advocates. I must admit that this book has strengthened my belief that I am not alone in my quest towards doing more than making money for myself. There are so many others who are doing just that. Three cheers to them.