Gandhi's mantra only solution for global financial meltdown: Ex-envoy

Black money that is stashed is 13 trillion pounds, $20 trillion

Mahatma Gandhi’s words ‘There is enough for everyone’s needs not for everyone’s greeds,’ is  so apt as the world is going through a global financial meltdown. It is wrong to say that the financial crisis is behind us, it is there even today, said former ambassador to India Pascal Alan Nazerath.

Delivering the keynote address at the two-day ‘International Conference on Emerging Trends in Finance and Accounting,’ organised by SDM Institute for Management Development, here on Friday, he said Gandhi changed the rules of the game through his non-violent movement.

The British were boasting that the sun never sets on the British empire. “When India became independent in 1947 it was the 54th member of the UN. Today there are 192 members and a majority of the countries were the British colonies. In all these years, dictators have been brought down, Communist walls have been broken and on 9/11, 2001 the first shock, the world witnessed when the twin World Trade towers were brought down,” he said. However, the first 9/11 was in South Africa in 1906 when Gandhiji launched the non-violent movement which shook the world.

The financial crisis is far more serious than the New York 9/11, as the insurance paid to the victims was $ 410 billion, while this crisis is compared to the nuclear accident terming it as a ‘meltdown,’ and it is in the range of $12 trillion dollars. The US government panicked so much that it said it is ‘too big to fail’ and ‘we may not have an economy on Monday,’ said Nazerath. The US financial crisis inquiry commission said that too much risk could have been avoided but there has been a breakdown in accountability and ethics at all levels.

“Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said that dishonesty on the part of the financial institutions spread the risk to others. In spite of the meltdwon, the financial heads of global companies earned 300 billion as year-end bonuses and it is all due to the insatiable greed that the downfall of Rajat Guptas and Ramalinga Reddys are seen,” he said.

The black money that is stashed away in tax havens is to the tune of 13 trillion pounds or $20 trillion. What Karl Max in Das Kapital or Keynes the economist and managment guru Peter Drucker  had echoed Gandhian thoughts, it is only the spiritual concern and truth that helps in getting out of the financial crisis. “It is heartnening to note that SDMIMD has introduced ethics and values in every subject,” he said.

Earlier, SDMIMD director Dr N R Parasuraman welcomed, conference chair Dr Ullas Rao said that about 70 papers from across the world including Russia, UAE, South Korea and also from different parts of the country had been submitted.