Rajgir, Bihar — On August 13, 2026, Nalanda University convened an international symposium titled “Rethinking Global Justice: A Symposium in Honour of Professor Thomas Pogge” at its Roundtable Conference Hall. The event critically examined the relevance of Professor Pogge’s scholarship amidst pressing contemporary challenges like climate change, technological disruption, global health crises, and the persistent Global North–South divide.

Opening the symposium, Vice Chancellor Professor Sachin Chaturvedi reflected on Professor Pogge’s multidisciplinary contributions across philosophy, economics, social justice, and international relations. He highlighted the necessity of co-producing country- and discipline-specific knowledge to meaningfully enrich the broader global knowledge ecosystem.

Honored at the event, Professor Thomas Pogge, Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs and Founding Director of the Global Justice Program at Yale University, expressed his deep connection to the region during his address. He shared, “I am very happy to be here at Nalanda and deeply grateful to all of you for coming to discuss these important questions with us. I also feel a tremendous allegiance and connection to India, because India is really where my intellectual journey began, in a way. Looking back, I am pleased that we are having this conversation, but also deeply concerned by how little progress we have made against poverty.”

He went on to urge scholars and policy experts to re-examine how society measures human advancement, stating, “If we want to take pride in having made progress against poverty, we should look not only at whether poverty has declined, but also at whether inequality has decreased. A rising tide lifting all boats is not enough. We need to ask whether the gains of economic growth are reaching those who are most disadvantaged, and whether the measures we use to understand poverty and inequality accurately reflect their lived realities.”

Organized across three thematic sessions and a valedictory session, the symposium brought together a distinguished gathering of academics and policy experts, including Professor Ashok Acharya, Professor Saikat Sinha Roy, Professor S.K. Mohanty, Professor Nitya Nanda, Professor Jose Nandhikkara, Dr. Soumyadeep Chowdhury, Mr. Syed Arsalan Ali, Professor Arvind Kumar, Professor K.J. Joseph, Professor Seshadri Chari, Dr. B. Chengappa, Dr. Sabyasachi Saha, and Professor Alakh Sharma.