UN adviser to talk peace in Mumbai today

The person, who advises the United Nations on issues of world peace, will be in the city to share his ideas on Saturday.

Dr Daisaku Ikeda, president of Soka Gakkai International, sends a peace proposal to the UN every year. It goes beyond diagnosing obstacles to peace and gives solutions encompassing attitudinal change in how global issues are perceived.

On September 28, Ikeda will speak at an event organised by the Mumbai branch of his group, in association with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, at a symposium ‘Compassion, Wisdom and Courage: Building A Global Society of Peace and Creative Coexistence’.

In his recent proposal, the focus of the abovementioned symposium, Dr Ikeda brings to attention a pervasive problem, especially in the developing world — that of extreme poverty. “The pervasive stress of economic deprivation is compounded when people feel that their very existence is disregarded, becoming alienated and being deprived of a meaningful role and place within society. This underlies the need for a socially inclusive approach focused on the restoration of a sense of connection with others and of purpose in life,” he says.

He adds that everybody possesses a life-state of ultimate dignity and is fundamentally equally endowed with limitless possibilities.