Any economic pursuit must think of people and planet earth

Bhubaneswar: Pursuit of economic prosperity could no longer focus on revenue generation and maximization of profit alone as such endeavours have to think of humans and planet earth, a senior bureaucrat said.

 “One can ill-afford to plunder the planet for economic pursuits as it will be suicidal. Any economic pursuit that does not take care of people and the planet can never be sustainable,” Jogiranjan Panigrahi, Joint Secretary in the Union ministry of Textiles, said while delivering the 6th SOA Fortnightly Academic Virtual Lecture on Saturday.

Speaking on the theme ‘Balancing Economic Pursuits with Human Values’, Panigrahi said an economic endeavour earlier was focused on generation of revenue  and maximization of profit but this simplistic thought had now given way to the triple bottom line of profit, people and planet.

Profusely quoting from the writings of religious gurus and scriptures, he said the human development index hinged on three components of longevity and healthy life, descent living and knowledge.

“In addition to the human development index, the buzzword today is inclusive development index,” he said adding unless the economic pursuits incorporated social justice, gender sensitivity and inclusive growth, it could not achieve lasting happiness.

Any economic pursuit, if it fails to balance human values based upon inclusive development and human development indices would not result in coexistence without conflict, he said.

Prof. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, Vice-Chancellor of the university also addressed the virtual gathering while students, faculties and others took part in the Q-A session. Prof. Nachieketa K. Sharma, Director, University Outreach Programmes moderated the proceedings while Dr. Sovan Pattanaik, Additional Programme Coordinator, NSS, proposed the vote of thanks.