World peace can be achieved by working in four areas - right to happiness, removing social and economic inequality, need to focus on 'dialogue and compassion' and reducing stock of arms and nuclear weapons worldwide, experts said.
They were speaking at a symposium was organised by renowned Buddhist body Soka Gakkai International's (SGI) Indian affiliate, Bharat Soka Gakkai (BSG), in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) yesterday.
The focus of the symposium was on a recent 2016 peace proposal sent by Soka Gakkai International President Daisaku Ikeda to the United Nations, which highlighted several areas that require prompt and coordinated action by governments and civil society.
Focusing on the peace proposal, chairperson Bharat Soka Gakkai Vishesh Gupta, said, "It compels us to think of four main aspects: whether we are able to touch the life of one person and empower it, the importance of one-on-one dialogue, acknowledging the inherent dignity and potential of all people and finally, believing in the power and passion of youth."
Founder of Teach for India, Shaheen Mistri, addressing the gathering said, "The peace proposal has several points that I could connect with. For instance, everyone has the right to be happy. I think it is important to touch the life of each person."
Chief economist to Aditya Birla Group, Ajit Ranade, stressed the need to remove inequality in search of peace.
He said, "Peace comes from justice and justice comes from the idea of fairness, we all need to be treated fairly. In India we are politically equal but social and economic inequality exists and we need to remove this contradiction."
On the occasion, Prakash Shah, India's former Permanent Representative to the United Nations talked about the need to reduce the stock of arms and nuclear weapons the world over to bring peace and happiness among people while
TISS professor KM Parivelan said, "The principle that we need to reach out to everyone and not leave anyone behind is very important. We need to truly respect and believe in the inherent dignity of all life."
SGI is a global network of 12 million people across 192 countries.
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