Kundan Kumar
The question is, how did India rise to the top of the global level of prosperity! How can we give this message to the world that we are also no less happy than anyone. Obviously, for this, efforts will have to be made with radical changes at the systemic level. Challenges like corruption, poverty, illiteracy, health have to be tackled. The youth will have to be given employment. Unemployment is at its peak in India today. This crisis is no less serious for the youth population of the country.
In today’s era, the relationship of happiness has become more associated with economic prosperity. When a person is financially prosperous, he is able to spend more on items like health, education, food and housing. Practically this can be said to be justified because without better health, education, food and housing, a happy life cannot be imagined. The truth is also that when a person is healthy, then only he will be able to be happy. But talking about being happy without financial prosperity is meaningless in today’s era.
The happiness index is used to estimate the happiness of people in different countries. It was started under the United Nations Sustainable Development Programme. The Global Happiness Report is released every year by the United Nations. The first Global Happiness Report came in 2012. After this, along with economic development around the world, importance was also given to prosperity. However, the latest report of the Global Happiness Index came last month.
The report says that in the case of prosperity last year i.e. in 2021, India’s place was one hundred and forty nine among one hundred and forty nine countries of the world. This shows how happy people are in our country! This is also a serious matter because the country which is claiming to become the fifth largest economy of the world in the next five-ten years, its condition is that the citizens of only ten countries of the world are below it in terms of prosperity, the rest one hundred The people of twenty nine countries are leading a happier life than that.
India’s position has not been better in the happiness index even in the earlier years. In the report of the year 2020 also, India was ranked among the bottom ten countries. At that time, India was ranked one hundred and forty-four in the list of one hundred and thirty-three countries. In the year 2019 also we were ranked one hundred and forty in the list of one hundred fifty six countries. In 2018 was one hundred and thirty-three. That is, the state of prosperity in our country, which gives the message of peace and prosperity in the world, remains worrisome.
In such a situation, the question is bound to arise that why we are not happy. Despite claiming to be the world’s largest democracy, rich in resources, socio-culturally strong and also economically strong, if we are not meeting the set global scale of prosperity, then it raises a big question on our system. Is.
The Global Happiness Report is showing that the citizens of our neighboring countries are leading a happier life than us. In the report, China has come eighty four, Nepal eighty seven, Bangladesh one hundred one, Pakistan one hundred five and Sri Lanka one hundred and twenty nine. On the other hand, Finland is among the happiest countries. Finland has remained at the top not only today, but for the last four years.
Finland is followed by Denmark at second place, Switzerland at third, Iceland at fourth and Netherlands at fifth. Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Austria are also included in the list of the ten happiest countries. Talking about the rest of the countries, Germany is ranked thirteenth, Britain seventeenth, America nineteenth and Japan Japan fifty-sixth. Although it sounds strange to hear that a country like Japan, which is one of the developed countries and rich in every respect, still people there are relatively less happy.
Afghanistan is among the worst countries in terms of prosperity. However, it is not possible to imagine a happy life in the kind of violent conflict this country has been facing for the last several decades. Poor African countries like Zimbabwe and Rwanda are also in the bottom ten. Both these countries have been facing civil war for a long time. If we talk about BRICS member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, then India’s position in this too is the worst. Brazil is in the best position in terms of prosperity with thirty-fifth. Russia is followed by Brazil at seventy six, China at eighty four and South Africa at one hundred and three.
Most of the countries of the world are now beginning to believe that the true criterion of development and public policies is actually happiness. In the present context, along with the national governments, the local bodies are also giving importance to move towards policy making by adopting the parameters of well being. Conscious and responsible governments are trying to create such a structure of public policies, so that the level of happiness can be increased in the life of the citizens. The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network has adopted six criteria to measure happiness.
GDP per capita, public trust, generosity, freedom to make life choices, healthy life expectancy and social support have been made the measure of happiness. The great irony of India is that issues like prosperity and prosperity never become the main topic of debate here. Therefore, there is no discussion anywhere on being so lagging behind in the happiness index.
India’s lagging behind other countries in the happiness index is really noteworthy. We are far behind the developed countries of the world in per capita GDP. What is the extent of corruption in the country, it is not hidden from anyone. Generosity is also included in the measure of happiness. History is witness to how liberal the people and rulers of India used to be. The world still discusses the generosity from Mahatma Buddha to Mahatma Gandhi. But the people of our country may have started spreading generosity now. Fingers have also started being raised on India regarding religious liberality.
Similarly, the freedom to make life choices is rarely seen in reality. Living life according to your choice is just a paper idea. The first condition of living an independent life is self-reliance and a person will be self-sufficient only when he is financially prosperous. When a person lives by his choice, then only he can be happy. Life expectancy is also an element of the measure of happiness.
Life expectancy is a measure of how much is invested in human resources. The life expectancy of men in India in the year 2020 was 67.5 years and that of women was 69.8 years. Whereas in the happiest country like Finland the average life expectancy is 81.1 years. Persistent low life expectancy in India also affects our place in the happiness index.
The question is, how did India rise in the global level of prosperity? How can we give this message to the world that we are also no less happy than anyone. Obviously, for this, efforts will have to be made with radical changes at the systemic level. Challenges like corruption, poverty, illiteracy, health have to be tackled. The youth will have to be given employment. Unemployment is at its peak in India today. This crisis is no less serious for the youth population of the country.
Due to unemployment, the young generation is drowning in despair and depression and its sad culmination is being seen in the form of increasing tendency of suicide. All this is the result of the policy flaws of the government. If India is to be made happy, then we should take lessons from those small and big countries whose priority is to remove the pain of their people.