10 January 2025 – What motivated you to become a member of The Club of Rome?
Life is a gift, and communication is an essential part of that gift. My journey involves writing, which I see as a natural flow rather than an authored act. I became connected to The Club of Rome through Honorary President, Mamphela Ramphele. We first met in 2017 at the Madurai Development Symposium and I was deeply moved by her sense of openness and welcoming nature.
The Club of Rome, to me, represents a “circle of attraction,” much like the flute-playing Krishna who draws people towards him. In this sense, The Club of Rome is not a traditional club meant to exclude but a space that welcomes diverse perspectives and collaborative efforts. I was invited to join during the summer of 2020, and it felt more like joining a circle of friendship and co-creation than a formal institution. The Club of Rome is helping to foster socio-cultural regeneration by creating spaces for such inclusive dialogues and collaborations.
What are the most critical challenges the organisation should prioritise in the coming years?
The Club of Rome is already working on critical issues like climate change, economic inequality and emerging new civilisations. One of the key initiatives is Earth4All which provides concrete proposals on climate change, energy transition, and equity, which I am currently working on translating into Hindi. The goal is to make these important ideas accessible to a broader audience in India as it should be available in other languages of the world to the extent possible.
The Club of Rome must deepen and expand its initiatives by fostering discussions in different parts of the world, particularly in countries like India where many of these ideas remain unfamiliar. We need to create spaces for policy discussions that combine practical steps with cosmological perspectives. The challenge for The Club of Rome is to become a many-sided movement, not just a think tank but a movement of consciousness and awakening.
At the Madras Institute of Development Studies, you’ve delved into socio-spiritual mobilisations. How do you see these movements influencing contemporary global challenges like climate change and economic inequality?
Movements are what drive the world, but the challenge is to move beyond surface-level activism to substantive processes. Many contemporary movements, which go beyond the structures of domination and despair, need to be studied and understood. Unfortunately, our focus has largely been on political movements, while non-political movements that contribute to a larger ecology of change have been overlooked.
Socio-spiritual mobilisations combine political and spiritual dimensions. Political movements, like the struggle for justice and emancipation, often have a spiritual core—love. However, love is frequently confined to specific ideological or religious groups. The challenge is to expand that love beyond bounded communities, like love for Hindus, to include others, such as Muslims and Christians. This universal love, rooted in solidarity, is key to addressing global challenges like climate change and economic inequality.
What is social healing and how does it relate to social justice?
Healing is a multidimensional challenge, encompassing various aspects such as physical wounds, relational wounds, and the wounds of the Earth. Healing must be both structural and personal, influencing and transforming self and society and transcending pathological social and personal boundaries. In my book on social healing, I aim to bring the concept and language of healing into contemporary critical thinking, which tends to focus on social suffering.
While significant work has been done in the field of social suffering, social healing as a specific discourse has not been sufficiently cultivated. Healing is connected to justice because illness often arises from injustice. In unjust societies, access to food and health is limited, and the quality of life impacts health far more than medicine alone.
Healing therefore must address not only personal wellbeing but also structural injustices. Decisions made at the governmental level can create widespread harm if not carefully considered. Healing must be a collective and structural effort, involving personal steps towards health as well as addressing the larger, systemic issues that perpetuate injustice.
Your work often emphasises the intersection of ethics and global responsibility. How do you envision The Club of Rome contributing to the broader discourse on global governance and sustainable development?
The current architecture of global governance, established after World War II, is deeply flawed. Institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund perpetuate unsustainable practices, and the geopolitical dominance of Euro-American powers remains a challenge.
The Club of Rome can contribute by advocating for a new kind of global governance, one rooted in local and regional levels. Instead of focusing solely on top-down structures, we need to embrace concepts like “world Panchayat Raj,”: world neighborhood self-rule, a model of governance that integrates local, national and global perspectives. This governance model should prioritise cooperation, mutual respect and shared responsibility: embracing a planetary vision where humans and nature coexist harmoniously.
