**Bhubaneswar: ** Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh Prof. Muhammad Yunus today met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The meeting comes a day after the noble laureate was awarded with 11th “KISS Humanitarian Award” at a special function organised by Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). He was presented the award by KIIT founder and renowned academician of the state Dr Achyuta Samanta.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that the two had an in-depth discussion on poverty alleviation and women’s empowerment. “We are looking forward to seek the help of Prof Yunus for the development of women SHGs and the tribals. We are planning to set up rural banks in the state in line with the pattern Prof Yunus has set up in Bangladesh.”
Speaking to mediapersons, Muhammad Yunus said, “We shared our experiences regarding the work which we have done at our individual capacity for the betterment of the society. The manner in which is the state government is making efforts to eradicate poverty along with socio-economic upliftment of women in rural areas, especially the women self-help groups is praiseworthy”
The noble laureate further emphasised on the encouragement of ‘socially responsible business’ which would focus on solving multifarious issues of the society rather than just money making. He stated that economic growth can be achieved only when small-scale industries and the large-scale industries work in collaboration with each other.
“During our interaction, we spoke at length on poverty alleviation and women empowerment besides the efforts needed to strengthen Gramin banks and the possible measures for eradication of unemployment. We also debated on women empowerment and rural economic revival besides ways to promote cash inflow into the rural economy”, he added.
**Also Read: ** [We Should Strive To Remove Poverty Forever: Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus](https://www.ommcomnews.com/public/we-should-strive-to-remove-poverty-forever-nobel-laureate-muhammad-yunus)
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