The Relevance of Gandhian Philosophy in redesigning the world

(from my speech at the Norwegian Parliament — October 2019)

Dear Ladies and gentlemen,

I arrived in Mumbai in 2003. I fell in love! I have ever since been homesick for India. I have been to India so many times — close to 100 times. My Indian family lives in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. I have met some amazing philanthropists, businessmen and human beings; Dr. Anji Reddy and Anand Mahindra.

The key pillars of Gandhism are truth and non-violence. For me there is a strong link at many levels between the “Gandhian Philosophy” and Norwegians.

“My soul refuses to be satisfied so long as it is a helpless witness of a single wrong or a single misery”

In 1936 Arnulf Øverland, the famous Norwegian author wrote: “Du må ikke tåle så inderlig vel den urett som ikke rammer deg selv” This was in a time of a horrible threat to the world. A time of unrest.

We see a lot of unrest in the world right now. Our planet is in a bad shape, we see environmental changes that creates turmoil and misery around the world. There are only 3721 days to 2030. This is the year we are supposed to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We need to act fast — we need to find new solutions — we need to collaborate. There are no time to waste.

In Katapult, a global community that I have co-founded, we have a vision to build a world in which all humans can thrive. We believe that capital and business can solve the world’s grand challenges.

We want to steward technologies as a force for good. Technology can cause great harm. As the world adopts ever more transformative tech, we believe that maximizing the chance of good outcomes requires responsible stewardship and clear intentionality.

“I believe in trusting. He who trusts has never yet lost in the world”

Trust is the new oil. The polarisation of the world is a dark force. The trust level in the world has gone down the last years. We need to develop a new model for our democracies. We need a democracy 2.0. I am confident that they key for this is trust.

“My life has been an open book. I have no secrets and I encourage no secrets”

The challenges we face in order to save this planet is very complex. We need to collaborate and share everything all across the world. There should not be any competition on saving the world.

“I have never lost my optimism. In seemingly darkest hours hope has burnt bright within me”

I am a true optimist for the future. The future lies within the youth and continues learning. In order to create a happy thriving future we need to focus on education — an inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Gandhi said: “By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man — body, mind and spirit”

Gandhi presents a broad education philosophy. He takes education as a lifelong process. It is a process of making life innovative, lofty and momentous on the basis of development of self virtues.

In the Project Nanhi Kali we have a strong belief that educated women would not only contribute to the economy but also issues of population and social evils like the dowry system and child marriage would reduce as more women are educated.

No investment are more effective for achieving the UN SDG’s than educating girls. This gives reduction of child and maternal mortality, improvement of child nutrition and health, lower fertility rates and improvement in economic production.

I went to India and I saw a different country than my own. I saw a lot of empathy. I learnt how to give the girl child education. Every daughter is more important than the son.

Gandhi saw a country that was segregated by class, gender, religion etc. Today I see the modern India focusing on creating an equal state. People take personal leadership — self-ruling — Surajee; Be independent of your thinking, Be independent of how you run your life. Be aware of yourself

When I came back from India I get energized on how we can uplift India and make sure that everyone is equal. Self-reliance and compassion is ingrained in us Norwegians.

With a high degree of awareness, trust and self-ruling we will build a world in which all humans can thrive.

Thank you!