Responsible Nation Index to assess how nations treat planet and its people: Experts

Bengaluru, June 27 (IANS) The World Intellectual Foundation (WIF) on Saturday released its first-of-its-kind report on the Responsible Nations Index (RNI) 2026 here, with experts saying that the index has been developed to assess how nations treat the planet and the people of the world.

In January this year, India launched the RNI, a global framework aimed at assessing countries on ethical governance, social well-being, environmental stewardship and global responsibility, moving beyond traditional measures of power and economic strength.

“The thought behind this is that all the indices issued so far have largely been produced by the powerful countries of the world. They have assessed every country according to their own criteria. In many of those indices, the parameters are based on how powerful a country is, how much ammunition it has, how many weapons it possesses, and its overall strength,” WIF Chairman Professor Jagdish Mukhi told IANS.

The Responsible Nations Index is the result of a three-year academic and policy research initiative led by the World Intellectual Foundation, with scholarly contributions from Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Indian Institute of Management Mumbai.

The framework seeks to redefine how national success is measured in an increasingly interconnected world.

T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Aarin Capital and former CFO and board member at Infosys, told IANS that the aim is to create an index showing where various countries stand.

“The Responsible Nation Index has been developed to assess how nations treat the planet and the people of the world. While every country has the right to pursue its own interests, we all live on the same planet. We must ensure that whatever we do within our own country does not destroy the planet or harm the prospects of other people, because that is what it means to be a responsible nation. Our culture and civilisation have always taught us that we are part of one global family,” Pai mentioned.

JNU Vice Chancellor, Professor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said during the event that “We are the only university with 1,000 faculty members for 10,000 students and the only university funded by the Central Government of India… JNU is now presenting its own antidote”.

–IANS

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