'Corruption of earth' worse than graft: Murthy

The “sustainability of our precious planet earth” in the face of greedy squandering of all kinds of natural resources “is in a sense even more important issue than traditional corruption” that came from tainted money, he stressed.

Delivering the prestigious Annie Besant Lecture on ‘Towards a Sustainable India’ at the on-going 135th International Convention of The Theosophical Society at its World headquarters in Adyar, Chennai, Monday evening, Murthy, without naming the massive spectrum allocation scam, regretted, “right today we are passing through a period of great sorrow due to moral degradation from extreme corruption; that corruption due to lack of morality is truly damaging.”

However, there was a greater sorrow that “does not distinguish between the bribe-giver and bribe-taker, rich and poor and between the powerful and the weak.”

It came from serious multi-faceted threats to the sustainability of the planet due to climate change and global warming, Murthy contended.

Elaborating that India and China were faced with environmental degradation due to higher carbon emissions, Murthy said that climate change will reduce the quality and quantity of “our natural resources in India”.

For instance, of the one billion people on this planet who do not have access to clean drinking water, 250 million are in India, he said.