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The World Today: Paradoxes Galore

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Soulful Corporations

Part of the book series: India Studies in Business and Economics ((ISBE))

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Abstract

Planet Earth, the only known habitat of Man, has bountiful resources to meet his needs, but not enough to sustain his plunder and greed. Surprisingly, humans seem to be in the process of eating up the planet! They are yet to wake up to their primary obligation to protect Mother Earth from harm and damage, revere nature and refrain from mindless depletion of natural resources. The Human Development Report (2009) refers to the underlying inequalities in the global distribution of capabilities, which tend to get further compounded by policy distortions, with adverse effects on human development. Humanity has already had to pay a heavy price for transgressing the supreme and universal laws of nature. It is time it relents and makes amends.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Throughout this work, the word ‘man’ has been used synonymously with the word human being and without any gender bias. According to Bharatiya Samskruti (Indian culture), the word ‘man’ is believed to have been derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Manas’ (mind), i.e. the one endowed with a mind is man—a human being. Similarly, whenever the pronoun ‘he’ is used in this book, it is only in the broad context with no gender bias whatsoever.

  2. 2.

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  3. 3.

    Literally meaning ‘Truth alone Triumphs’ which is the national motto of India, Satyamev Jayate is an Indian television talk show hosted by famous Bollywood film star Aamir Khan that was aired on various channels within Star Network along with Doordarshan’s DD National from May 6, 2012, to August 15, 2012. It highlighted sensitive social issues prevalent in India such as female foeticides, dowry, medical malpractice, domestic violence, alcoholism, untouchability, plight of senior citizens and water crisis and was overwhelmingly appreciated by critics and the public.

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    Address on Armistice Day, 1948.

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    ILO Report, Labour and Social Trends in Asia and the Pacific, 2006.

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    World Medicines Situation Report, 2004.

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    Accessed at http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2005/09/20/000112742_20050920110826/Rendered/PDF/322040World0Development0Report02006.pdf

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    Norman Myers, What Ails the Globe, http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0494/et0494s0.html

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    Based on statistics provided in the UNDP World Development Report 2011.

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    Millennium Development Goals Report 2012.

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    Norman Myers, What Ails the Globe, http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0494/et0494s0.html

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    Sekhsaria, Pankaj (2012), ‘Costs that Coalgate brushes around’, The Hindu, September 18, 2012.

  17. 17.

    Based on the statistics provided in the UNDP Human Development Report (2011).

  18. 18.

    ibid.

  19. 19.

    People and Possibilities in a world of seven billion, UNFPA State of World Population 2011; accessed at http://foweb.unfpa.org/SWP2011/reports/EN-SWOP2011-FINAL.pdf

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    KohliAtul (2012) Poverty Amid Plenty in the New India, New Delhi: Cambridge University Press India.

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    Quah, Danny (1997), ‘Empirics for growth and distribution: stratification, polarization and convergence clubs’, London School of Economics and Political Science, Center for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No. 324, pp. 1–29; accessed at http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/income.php#mil

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    Zeena Elton and Phil Glendenning (2006) The Changing Face of Wealth and Poverty-the case of Australia, 80:20 Development in an Unequal World, Chapter 19, pp. 281–290; accessed at http://www.developmenteducation.ie/teachers-and-educators/transition-year/extra-resources/Resources/8020-additional-resources/19.PDF

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    http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats

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    Norman Myers, What Ails the Globe, http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0494/et0494s0.html

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Shah, S., Ramamoorthy, V.E. (2014). The World Today: Paradoxes Galore . In: Soulful Corporations. India Studies in Business and Economics. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1275-1_1

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