Welcome Note by Professor Manoranjan Mohanty, Council for Social Development
Namaskar.
On behalf of the editors of the volume Building a Just World, Shri Vinod Khanna, Prof
Biswajit Dhar and myself and the twenty contributors from five continents, the
Publishers, Orient BlackSwan, and on behalf of my colleagues at the Council for Social
Development I extend a warm welcome to The President of our Republic, Shri Pranab
Mukherjee who has done a great honour to an international group of scholars and
policy-makers who came together to pursue the agenda of building a fair, equitable,
humane world.
We welcome Dr Kapila Vatsyayan who will present the first copy to the President. Kapila
ji’s lifelong mission to discover, document and promote Indian people’s culture and
civilizational heritage is a source of great inspiration to all of us.
A cordial welcome to Shri Shiv Shankar Menon, the eminent scholar-diplomat who
connects the best of the anti-colonial, anti-cold-war legacies with the creative
possibilities of the unfolding era of global transformation. He will speak on the book.
We are grateful to Prof. Muchkund Dubey for being the fulcrum of this endeavor and
providing us an agenda that attracted us to produce this volume in his honour. He has
persisted with his efforts, while in service and later, by upholding the Indian global
vision, to reaffirm the original goals of the United Nations to build a peaceful, equitable
and democratic international political economy. The goal was to create a new global
order that protected the interest of the developing countries, uplifted the marginalized
people in all parts of the globe, produced conditions for dignity and decent livelihood
with universal healthcare and common educational facilities for all. Prof. Dubey is still
engaged in this mission.
Ladies and gentlemen.I welcome the scholars, diplomats and journalists gathered here
to celebrate this momentous occasion and rededicate ourselves to the cause of building
a just world. Grateful Thanks to you, Rashtrapati ji. JAI HIND. JAI JAGAT.
Remarks by Shri Shiv Shankar Menon
Respected Rashtrapati ji, Shri Muchkund Dubey, Dignitaries, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for the honour of speaking at this very special occasion of the presentation to
our Rashtrapati ji of the first copy of Building A Just World; Essays in Honour of
Muchkund Dubey, edited by Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, Vinod Khanna and Biswajit
Dhar.
The book that is being presented is unique in many ways, as is the person in whose
honour it has been compiled. It reflects some of the major themes of Professor Dubey’s
life-work as a public servant and a public intellectual, on the world economy,
international trade and monetary systems, security, and South Asian cooperation, — not
just as a diplomat and Foreign Secretary representing India but as a Professor of
international relations and as President of the Council for Social Development.
It is to Mr Dubey that we owe some significant aspects of India’s economic diplomacy.
While the beginnings of bilateral economic diplomacy by India can be traced back to the
fifties, it was Mr Dubey and a few other pioneers who recognised in the seventies that
to be effective economic diplomacy must also concern itself with the international
system and with building an equitable world order. It was this conviction that drove
many important pioneering efforts in the UN and other multilateral organisations, which
are acknowledged by former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in his
introduction to the volume. Indeed the volume has an impressive list of contributors,
which is tribute to Mr Dubey’s sustained influence in these fields.
A few words about the book. The book is in four parts: A Just World Order; Peace,
Security and Climate Change; Social Sector; and, two interviews with Mr Dubey where
he speaks honestly and movingly about his life and work and philosophy. Contributors
from across the globe have come together to write essays relating to building a just
world. Some make a strong plea for change in global financial and trading systems and
propose alternatives. Some deal with the emergence of China and India and its
consequences. There are significant contributions on promoting disarmament and the
climate change negotiations. The social sector essays critique privatisation of health
services, and displacement caused by mega-projects. There are sharp discussions on the
thwarting of scientific thinking/temper by irrational forces, and an analysis of neoliberal
policies which come with authoritarian politics and communal mobilisation.
All in all, the essays here are a timely reminder of the importance of systemic reform
and change in the global economic order, — something that developing country elites
ignored for almost two decades after 1990 of an open international trading system and
free capital flows when they got accustomed to relatively high growth rates and high
commodity prices. But fat years are followed by lean ones, as we have rediscovered
since the global economic crisis of 2008, which continues and is also a crisis of the
neoliberal prescription. If recovery in the developed world since 2008 has been slower
than any other recovery since WWII, and if the economies of developing and emerging
countries including China are today also affected, and if we witness the rise of
protectionism and unprecedented global financial imbalances, it is also because the
world led by the G-20 failed to use the crisis to reform the global economic order, and
the multilateral system led by the UN has been unravelled and failed to perform.
The essays also reflect another important aspect of Muchkund Dubey’s work, namely,
the domestic roots of economic and international policies. This is more than the idea
that foreign policy is driven by domestic compulsions, or that all foreign policy is local
politics, as someone once said. We often forget that democracy at home, sustainable
development, international peace, and the nature of the international order are interlinked and indivisible. Essays here remind us of how important that connection is. And
once again a look at the state of the world around us tells us how essential it is that we
begin to act accordingly.
There is profound inequity in the present global order — inequity in the distribution of
economic, military, and political power. There is inequity in access to the fruits of
development and science, and in the enjoyment of security by different peoples within
and between societies and nations.
It is, therefore, impossible for India to be a status-quo power in these circumstances.
But, at the same time, as Muchkund Dubey has always argued, India is not a rejectionist
power that stands outside the global order. Instead her interests lie in working to
change, reform and improve the global order. Events around us are forcing change,
whether it is the rise of China, India’s development, the continuing crisis of the
developed economies, or the evolution of technology. Rehman Sobhan has an essay on
changing economic trends in Asia which now make it possible to envision an alternative,
more just, multipolar order. This is a transformative vision shared by many contributors,
though they all recognise the difficulties in the way of its achievement. If as argued here,
developing countries are better placed today than in the seventies and eighties, will
change in the order come peacefully?
The practical problem in building a just order today is that while economic power has
shifted its locus, military, political and ideological power has not. Hence the significance
of what Shyam Saran and others have to say in their essays on disarmament and
security, which are intrinsically linked and critical to building a new order.
In any case, positive change in the international system is not the natural or inevitable
result of the operation of the market or a byproduct of hegemony. As Muchkund Dubey
has said, a just world order needs to be ”deliberately conceived, designed and brought
into existence”. That we have failed to build a just world order so far is no reason not to
continue to try. And there lies the value of this volume recognising his contributions to
the global discussion of how to build a just world order. Coming when the UN is about
to adopt the post-2015 agenda for sustained development, these essays are timely and
useful contributions.
The one additional essay that I would have liked to see in this collection is an answer to
the question: Are the disruptions, consequences and discontents of this round of
globalisation worse or different from those of previous waves of globalisation? The
Indian and Chinese traditions had civilisational frameworks linking Asia with the rest of
the world through cultural and economic exchanges. How did the rest of the world feel
about them? While the scale may be different today, amplified by technology, are there
historical parallels to the issues raised in this volume? I ask for this so that we reemerging powers do not repeat the mistakes of the past that we criticise.
Strangely, for all the discontent and gloom expressed about the consequences of
globalisation and neo-liberal policies in the book, it left me optimistic. The dominant
realist view of international relations and the naked pragmatism of the superpower and
putative superpower have little or no place at the policy level for the morality, decency,
justice and common virtues that we expect at the personal/individual level. The
alternative lines of thinking suggested here do. That is their strength, and the secret of
their longevity. These are ideas whose time has come when we are in the midst of
profound and fundamental change in the world system.
With these words let me, therefore, congratulate the editors on their work and on
bringing out a volume which should be required reading not just for intellectuals,
scholars and practitioners but for the interested layman in India and other developing
countries.
In conclusion, I am sure that I speak for us all in expressing our profound gratitude to
our President for receiving us here in Rashtrapathi Bhavan and most graciously agreeing
to accept the first copy of the book.
Remarks by Prof Muchkund Dubey, President, Council or Social Development
It is the rarest of the rare moments in my life. The First Citizen of India is gracing the
function organised to release and is going to receive the first copy of the book brought
out in honour of a common citizen of India. This is indeed a matter of enormous
privilege for me. It also reflects the magnanimity of Shri Pranab Mukherjee and the
excellence of Indian democracy. This is also an indication of President Pranab
Mukherjee’s invaluable affection for me which I have been aware of during several
years of my career as a government servant and which I have cherished as a valuable
treasure. Sir, I do not find words to express how grateful I am for your kindness and
generosity.
There can be no greater recognition in life than that you receive from your peers
working in your field. I, therefore, regard the publication of this festschrift by my three
fellow intellectuals and scholars as the greatest honour conferred on me in my life. I
deeply appreciate their initiative in bringing out the festschrift and really admire the
effort they have put into the making of the volume.
My deep gratitude to Kapila ji for agreeing to release the book. She is the embodiment
of what is the finest, most beautiful, profound and unifying in the Indian culture and
world’s cultures. This is both in terms of her knowledge and contributions in this field as
well as the manner in which it is reflected in the day-to-day conduct of her life.
I am also touched by the generous words said about me by Shiv Shankar Menon, my
erstwhile colleague in the Indian Foreign Service. I do not really know if I really deserve
all that he has said about me but there is no doubt that, coming as they do from him I
attach great significance to his remarks.
At this moment, I am overwhelmed by a feeling of great humility. What immediately
comes to my mind are the oft-quoted lines from the very first poem of Gitanjali of
Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore:
Sakal ahankar he amar
Dubao chokher jole
It is for others to judge what I have achieved in my long working life. But there is one
thing to which I look back with a measure of satisfaction. And, that is, I have purposely
and consciously combined in my work service to the nation with contribution to building
a just world, which is the title of the book being released at this function. I have never
seen these two endeavours of a diplomat in separate compartments. I have seen my
labours in these two domains as a part and parcel of the pursuit of the same purpose of
improving the living conditions and securing justice, for people all over the world. I
regard my endeavours in one arena as a means of making advances in the other arena. I
think national interest can be best served in a just world and that we have to bolster
our national strength, in which diplomacy plays an important role, to be in a position to
make a meaningful contribution to building a new world order.
In making my humble contribution to the building of a just world I have very much been
guided by the great Indian vision of one world and service to all. After independence, I,
along with others, inherited this legacy from Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru
and other leaders of India’s independence movement. When I joined the Service, some
of the immortal words that were resonating in my mind were Gandhi ji’s remark in his
extempore speech made at the Asian Relations Conference in March 1947: “I would not
like to live in a world which is not one world.” Fresh in my mind at that time was also Pt.
Nehru’s observation at the same Conference: “No longer shall the Asians remain
petitioners in the chancelleries of the world.” I was moved by the ideas and ideals of
these great leaders while negotiating and playing a distinctive personal role in the
formulation of the Principles Governing World Trade at the first UNCTAD, the
International Development Strategy for the Second U.N. Development Decade, the
Global Consensus on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development, Rajiv
Gandhi Action Plan for the Establishment of a Nuclear Weapon-Free and Non-violent
World Order, the Vision Document for South Asian Economic Union – to name only a
few.
I do hope that these two inseparable and mutually reinforcing objective of serving the
nation and establishing a just world, would continue to guide our national policy and our
diplomatic endeavours in the future.
Thank you.