President receives first copy of book on Muchkund Dubey

President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said millions of people in the world dream of and aspire for a just world and praised former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey as one of those individuals who deserves salute for working towards creating such a world.

Receiving the first copy of "Building a Just World, Essays in honour of Muchkund Dubey" at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Mukherjee said Dubey is among those individuals who helped frame policies and contributed towards highlighting issues that "have to be addressed, and cannot be brushed under the carpet anymore".

Dubey is credited with writing a major part of the UN report on the First Development Decade.

The president said the insights provided by Dubey help in understanding many of the complex problems afflicting the world today, especially at a time when the UN is to adopt a post-2015 agenda for sustainable development.

Commenting on the climate change negotiations, the president said "users (countries) have to pay to meet the needs of everybody, but not the greed, and we are demanded to pay for the greed of a few for wanton destruction" of the earth's resources, that has affected the Earth's climate.

Dubey, speaking at the event, said he can look back with some satisfaction at his work as a civil servant, during which he said he had tried to contribute towards building a just world.

He said he was "moved by the Indian vision of one world and welfare of all" and also inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

"I don't see service to the nation and contribution to creating a just world order as different, it is part and parcel of the same purpose - of improving the conditions of the people and bringing justice," he said.

Former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon said the book reflects major fields of Dubey's thoughts on the economy, on cooperation, on policy and economic diplomacy towards creating a just and equitable world order.

The book was released by noted scholar Kapila Vatsyayan. It has been edited by Manoranjan Mohanty, Vinod C. Khanna and Biswajit Dhar.