‘Values will guide the world through problems’

The message was simple — inculcate a shared sense of value and human endeavour to address global issues.

The message was simple — inculcate a shared sense of value and human endeavour to address global issues.

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At the Madhavrao Scindia memorial lecture on Wednesday, Bhutan’s king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck shunned the jargon of globalisation and diplomacy and went back to basics, endearing himself to the gathering that filled the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library auditorium to the brim.

“I believe that any real and lasting solution to global issues can only come through a universal wave of human empathy, desire and passion for the common good. Global problems are problems that face mankind and our planet. Governments might mediate problems at the global level, but its effects are felt by people, like you and me,” he said.

“I truly believe that the only way to observe the most important things in life and in this world is by putting them through the lens of ‘Simplicity’,” he said during a lecture on Changing World and Timeless Values.

“For in the end, no matter what country we may be from, we are human beings – no matter what our cultures and beliefs may be, we share the same needs and abide by the same fundamental values,” he told the audience comprising cabinet ministers, political leaders, business leaders, diplomats and others.

The king hoped those values would guide the world through problems such as environmental degradation, terrorism and poverty.

The king mentioned Bhutan’s development philosophy of the Gross National Happiness, which his father Jigme Singye Wangchuk pioneered.

The concept signifies “development with values”, he said.

The king added that India had been Bhutan’s steadfast partner and friend in socio-economic progress and in its recent transition to democracy.

In her welcome address, Madhaviraje Scindia, the chairperson of the Madhavrao Scindia Foundation, called the Bhutan king “people’s king”, a description that the audience greeted with loud applause.

She recalled the late Madhavrao Scindia was a symbol of the emerging and resurgent India. Vir Sanghvi, a trustee of the foundation, proposed a vote of thanks.