With Amartya Sen, A Global Ethic from Ancient India. What can ancient Indian thinkers Ashoka and Kautilya tell us about how to think about the dilemmas of globalization in the 21st Century? What are the ethical limits to use of force and to prioritizing the economy? What kind of global ethic do we need for a globalized world? Amartya Sen talks in the first 12:34 minutes, minute 12:34 to 41:48 is my talk, then 25 minutes or so of questions and discussion with the audience, Amartya Sen, Homi Bhabha and myself. The event was sponsored by the Harvard South Asia Initiative.

"Foreclosing the Future," Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy: I discuss the findings of my then recently published new book on the World Bank, "Foreclosing the Future; The World Bank and the Politics of Envrionmental Destruction." (Island Press, 2013)

Mortgaging the Earth musical version: My 1994 book Mortgaging the Earth: The World Bank, Environmental Impoverishment, and the Crisis of Development (pp. 246-49), discussed a leaked memo from the World Bank in which then World Bank Vice President for Economics Larry Summers advocated "welfare enhancing economically efficient" trade of pollution and waste from industrialized polluted nations to poor "underpolluted" Third World countries. I received the leaked memo during the preparations for the 1992 United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, and had it forwarded to Brazil's then Environment Minister, the late Jose Luztenberger. Lutzenberger wrote Summers that his proposals were "perfectly logical" [according to the logic of neoliberal economics] and "totally insane." Summers went on to be U.S. Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration, and after that President of Harvard. At the time he was a prime advocate of the one sided globalization that has provoked the populist--and perhaps contrary to the expectations of some progressives, often virulently right wing and nationalistic--reaction which we are witnessing in many countries today. Bard College and former Yale Music School composer John Halle got in touch with me and composed a piece based on the words of the memo, which has been publicly performed many times since its premiere in 2003. This eight minute or so composition, with youtube images, is more relevant than ever, and deeply engrossing, though disturbing.

Legacy of Ashoka and Kautilya: From Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Sarojini Naidu, B R Ambedkar, and even before them, Raja Ram Mohan Roy—the Indian independence struggle yielded a rich diversity of leaders with different points of views, different orientations and ideologies. Indeed, the founders of the modern Indian republic looked back at Mauryan times and invoked the legacy of Ashoka and chose Ashokan symbols for the Indian state seal and flag. Has the legacy of these leaders been forgotten in India? What lessons can we learn from these great leaders that would be applicable to modern India?Moderator: Kishan Rana Former Indian Ambassador to Germany Panel:  Sugata Bose Gardiner Professor of History and Director South Asia Initiative, Harvard University; Bruce Rich Author, "To Uphold the World: The Message of Ashoka and Kautilya for the 21st Century; Akeel Bilgrami Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University

Jury Findings World Bank TribunaI: The four day Independent Peoples Tribunal (IPT) on the World Bank in India concluded after hearing numerous depositions indicting the Bank's policy and project interventions in India. Over seven hundred people from communities, social movements, research institutes, NGOs and universities attended the proceedings. The Tribunal, supported by the Jawaharlal University's Teachers Association and Students' Union was held in the university premises. The Tribunal itself was held from 21-24 September 2007 at Jawalharlal Nehru University, in New Delhi India. Over 150 deponents presented testimony, 200 students volunteered their time to make the event happen, 13 members sat on the Jury, and over 700 people attended. The Tribunal process quickly inspired similar events in The Hague, Netherlands,in Pakistan, and in Bangladesh. For more information: http://www.worldbanktribunal.org/index.html Download Booklet on the Tribunal and Findings: http://www.worldbanktribunal.org/WB_Tribunal_Jury_Findings.pdf

The 'jury' of the Tribunal who met and deliberated to frame the findings, included, besides the author: Arundhati Roy, Novelist, author and activist who has worked in the Narmada Valley struggle as well as many others. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her first novel, The God of Small Things; Justice P.B. Sawant, Former Justice in the Supreme Court of India. Chairperson of the Press Council of India in 1995-2001. President of the World Association of Press Council in 1996-2003; S.P. Shukla, Former Secretary of Finance, for the Government of India and India's representative at the GATT talks; Justice H. Suresh, Former Mumbai High Court Justice, a leader of India's People's Tribunal movement; Romila Thapar, Emeritus Professor in History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, she was elected General President of the Indian History Congress in 1983; Chief Justice Mrs. KK Usha, The first woman to be appointed to the position of Chief Justice in Kerala High Court. She was a member of the division bench which recently rejected the infamous appeal that curbs should be imposed in press reporting of Court cases; Aruna Roy, Social activist, she was instrumental in the passing of the Indian Right to Information Act in 2005. Co-founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (Workers'-Farmers' Unity Union) in 1990; Ramaswamy Iyer, Former Secretary of Water Resources for the Government of India and Honorary Research Professor for India's Centre for Policy Research; Alejandro Nadal, Professor of Economics at the Center for Economic Studies, Author and Coordinator of the Science and Technology program of El Colegio de Mexico. He is a journalist for La Journada and advisor to the World Conservation Union; Amit Bhaduri, An economist and social activist, he has authored many books and been Professor Emeritus at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He his currently a Professor of Political Economy at the University of Pavia, Italy; Meher Engineer, Physicist currently studying climate change, member of the Teachers and Scientists Forum, and former Director of the Bose Institute; Sulak Sivaraksa, Founder and director of the Thai NGO “Sathirakoses-Nagapradeepa Foundation”. Initator of a number of social, humanitarian, ecological and spiritual movements and organizations in Thailand, and is one of the fathers of INEB (International Network of Engaged Buddhists). Awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award).

Sustainability, Finance and Environment: Bruce Rich, attorney and author, speaks about his journey into the field of conservation. He discusses the role of World Bank in financing big investment projects that were affecting the environment and as well as having severe social impacts, and describes the process that led the World Bank to set standards that also contributed to the adoption of environment & social standards for project finance by leading private international banks such as Barclays, J.P. Morgan and Citi Group and theInternational Netherlands Group. Now over 100 Banks have adopted the EQUATOR Principles (see https://equator-principles.com/ and https://www.banktrack.org/campaign/equator_banks_act) and are incorporating these into their business model for the benefit of the environment. EHNF was a 2 day session that brought together individuals, institutes, government bodies and ministries to speak on Asian Elephant Conservation and honour the ecological champions, who contribute to protecting the biodiversity of the Eastern Himalayas. The Event took place a on 8th & 9th Nov 2016.

Lessons from Ashoka & Kautilya: In conversation with Bruce Rich, Attorney, Environmental Law Institute, USA at the Eastern Himalayan Naturenomics Forum 2017, Guhawati, Assam state, India

Universal Healthcare in Ancient India: In To Uphold the World: A Call for a New Global Ethic from Ancient India, author Bruce Rich contemplates the rule of the Indian emperor Ashoka over 2,200 years ago, whose philosophy of tolerance, conservation, nonviolence, species protection, and human rights still have much to teach us today. One of the many programs established by Ashoka was a system of universal health care for people and animals which, once established, served the Indian empire for close to a millennium. Rich discusses Ashoka's health care system in this video.