The thought here is that loans are being given to farmers that have little control over the factors of production and thus are too high a risk. Tota Bibi stood triumphantly in the doorway of her new home. But its walls were much more substantial-planks of wood instead of woven reeds, reinforced concrete pillars instead of bamboo poles. And the crowning glory, the joy of Tota Bibi and the pride of this tiny village in one of the poorest countries in the world, was the roof, corrugated metal that the rains could never penetrate and the winds could never move. Now it belonged to an almost giddy Tota Bibi, a 50 year old widow from the poorest, landless class of Bangladesh society.
Bank breaks many rules of banking and international development.
In Bangladesh, the Grameen also challenges the traditional role of women in an Islamic society and the vestiges of the feudal landowning system. Most are illiterate. City dwellers and families with substantial property are not accepted as bank member-customers. The bank does not donate money to the poor families. It lends them money and charges interest at commercial rates.