Kolkata: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought the advice of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus on legislation to oversee micro-credit programmes in India.

"He [the Prime Minister] has sought my views on the [proposed] law which is to be finalised by NABARD [National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development]," the Bangladeshi micro-credit pioneer and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2006, who is now considering joining active politics, said here on Monday.

"There is no lack of initiative on the part of the Indian leadership on the matter but there is need for legislation for the setting up of a micro-credit bank. There has been no progress towards [framing] the law so far. Besides the Prime Minister I have also spoken with NABARD and the Reserve Bank of India... .Let us hope the [proposed] law will be effective," Dr. Yunus who is on a visit to the city told a press conference.

Dr. Singh has, on earlier occasions, admitted that "the pace of micro-level credit financing in India was slow and there is need to accelerate it," Dr. Yunus said, referring to his previous meetings with the Prime Minister during which "the micro-credit model was the major issue."

"Even when he was the Finance Minister he had maintained that the model would help serve people better," he said.

He said "there can be no question on the applicability of the Grameen Bank model which has now been adopted in countries in Europe as well as in China."

Plans to join politics

On his plans to join politics, Dr. Yunus said there was "need for new political thinking in Bangladesh for which there is an opportunity now."

"I will have to assess my acceptability in politics and though I am not yet a politician and yet to set up a political party I am waiting to see whether the common people there want me in politics," he said, adding that a political future would not affect the functioning of his Grameen Bank which has survived different governments over the past 30 years.

Dr. Yunus laid emphasis on the need for a more integrated South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) whose future largely depended on the removal of impediments existing in India-Pakistan relations.

"Our future is tied up with the future of SAARC which, in turn, depends on improving relations between India and Pakistan," he said.

To foster the spirit of amity within the SAARC nations, there is need to follow through Dr. Singh's proposal for a highway network linking the member countries, Dr. Yunus said. "The Prime Minister had also spoken of the possibility of setting up a SAARC university and during a recent talk with him I had suggested that issuing of SAARC passports be not just confined to a handful of MPs," Dr. Yunus said.

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