Are you happy? Yes you, right now. Are you reading this with a big smile on your face or humming your favourite tune perhaps? My guess is that you’re feeling vaguely content, hoping for a brighter future, maybe even sad, frustrated or angry. Well, fret not if that’s the case. After all, you can only be as happy as your country in general is and India is not a happy country at all if UN’s World Happiness Index (WHI) 2018 is to be believed. The index that measured 156 countries in terms of happiness, placed India in the 133rd position, a drop of 11 places from last year’s 122nd rank. The country was ranked 118th in 2016. In fact, we rank lower than all our neighbours including Pakistan (a terror hub) and Myanmar, which is embroiled in the ethnic violence between the majority Buddhists and the minority Rohingyas, has been placed at 130th position. China is ranked 86th.
What makes a country happier than the other? Many would say it’s the country’s economy, richer countries should be happier than their poorer counterparts. If it were so then we should definitely have ranked higher than all our neighbours, as India is the fastest growing, and now the world’s sixth largest economy. Given our obsession with the GDP numbers and the time we spend discussing it, one would think that it captures the well-being of the people, but it’s not so.
Robert F. Kennedy an American Senator in his 1968 speech at the University of Kansas, spoke of the shortcomings of GDP – “The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.” You can listen to a detailed version here.
There are two benchmarks that any person uses to gauge their happiness – internal and external. The internal benchmark is the past feeling of happiness that a person has had whereas the external benchmark is their reference group like friends, colleagues etc. A person thus compares their present situation with the two benchmarks to arrive at the result. This comparison is why the richer are happier argument falls on its head. If one was in abject poverty and the economic growth brought them out of it then they will surpass their internal benchmark as they can now afford things which they earlier could not. However, if the growth in the economy is accompanied by the growth in wealth of their reference group as well, their external benchmark is also raised proportionately. This is like rain on their parade.
It’s comparisons like these that make us happy or sad. That’s the reason why I compared India’s WHI rank with that of Pakistan and China’s in the beginning. Most of our discussions like this article, revolve around how we are doing compared to these two. We don’t like it when we rank 133 against Pakistan’s 75 in WHI, but a similar dismal 130 rank in the Index of economic freedom compared to 131 of Pakistan suddenly doesn’t look so bad.
Similar arguments can be heard during every Asia cup cricket tournament – “we don’t care if India loses the finals but it must win against Pakistan in league matches.” Doesn’t sound very rational, does it? Then again, human beings are known to be more emotional than rational. If we focused on how we perform instead of comparing our success/failure with that of our peers we would be happier, but we do the opposite. We are constantly chasing a social status, a position that everyone respects because what good is a position that nobody admires? We face hardships to get it, which makes us even less happy, yet we do it and remain trapped in this cycle.
In a democracy like ours, if people are unhappy about something they have the right to protest against it. So if the number of bandhs, hartals and protests were considered to be an indication of the citizens’ dissatisfaction, ours would be off the charts. Our protests, like our culture, show great diversity. Think of anything and I bet you there has been a protest on it. Be it a film, a law, a ban, a proposed policy, loan waiver, inflation, a crime like rape, or a so-called godman or movie stars going to jail. The list is endless. Moreover, for every protest there is a counter-protest, showing that the applicability of Newton’s 3rd law goes beyond the discipline of Physics.
The protests are not just limited to the citizens, the politicians who are elected to lead the country are busy leading protests. The opposition’s goal is clear i.e. not to let the parliament function, for this they’ll protest anything under the sun. This year, however, further consolidating Newton’s 3rd law, the Prime Minister decided to hold a day-long fast to protest against the washout of this year’s budget session of Parliament. In short, everyone from the class 10th students protesting paper leaks and poor farmers, to the PM is on a protest. Everyone seems to be unhappy about something or the other. No doubt, a lot of the protests are politically motivated, but many are genuine as well.
What ultimately matters is how people feel and freedom of choice makes people happier. The intervention of the state into the private matters of people such as their food, drinks, or sexual preferences doesn’t help in enhancing happiness either. A fine example of this prohibition imposed in Bihar, when the CM of the state decided to prank his people with prohibition on April Fool’s day two years ago. The prohibition law is often cited as draconian because of its stringent punishments, like holding the entire family accountable and seizing the premises if alcohol is found there. A whopping 1.21 lakh people had been arrested since then. Most of them were otherwise law-abiding citizens. Not to mention deaths caused by consumption of spurious liquor, and the tax burden put on people due to a loss in excise revenue. Since then the CM has also put a ban on the sale of E-cigarettes as if these were the two things holding Bihar back.
If alcoholism was such a problem then taxes on alcohol could have been raised further and the extra revenue so collected could have been used to educate people against the ills of alcohol. The number of liquor shops could also have been reduced. Creating a nanny state to solve a deep-rooted social evil rarely works, as history and data have proved several times. It merely drives it underground, criminalizes the activity and creates a different set of problems. It takes away the freedom of choice from people as if they’re not intelligent enough to decide for themselves. Policymakers need to recognize the needs of the people, ask people if they’re satisfied with their lives and what makes them happy. Isn’t that the democratic way to behave instead of the paternalistic approach of deciding what’s good for the people?
However it’s not fair to put the entire onus of our misery on the policymakers, we the people are also responsible for why things don’t change for better. That is why Bihar has already passed such a law largely avoiding media scrutiny. Not that prohibition is the only important issue, but if 1.21 lakh people get arrested then it certainly deserves more attention than it got. Too much misery goes unaddressed whereas less important issues get enormous attention. This is clearly visible in our popular discourse.
Recently there was a big uproar when Delhi Congress leaders were photographed eating ‘chhole bhature’ before sitting on a protest and observing a fast. I fail to understand what the fuss was all about. Was it due to the fact that they ate before the fast began? Is there a written/unwritten law which tells us when to begin fasting before a fast begins? Or was it due to the fact that they were eating chhole bhature? Would it then have been ok if they were clicked eating say Khichdi? Imagine the outrage had they been eating chicken butter masala. The 3rd law came into play here as well, and the defenders of Congress questioned the PM’s fast, “How can we be sure that the PM is on a fast as he claims? Nobody is watching him after all,” they said.
Tell me this, how can we expect our politicians to take us seriously if we are engrossed in such futile debates? All they need to do is throw us duds like these from time to time and watch us fight tooth and nail over social media while things remain as they were. Ask yourself if the current system is helping you thrive; if not then shouldn’t it change?
The effectiveness of WHI in quantifying an emotion like happiness is certainly debatable. However, we can certainly do a few things that would improve our overall well being in the long run, or at least slow down our plummeting rank in WHI.
First, being the sixth largest economy in terms of GDP doesn’t mean that we have mastered economic growth. India accounted for the largest number of people living below the international poverty line in 2013 according to the World Bank. Unemployment is a serious issue and selling ‘pakodas’ is not a solution, we need a better one. We need to transform our schools and colleges from the exam factory that they become a place where students can learn to make a living. The workplace also needs to be transformed into a place where people can cooperate and enjoy their work.
Second, protests are not panacea. Someone has to work to get things done, if everyone from the common citizens to the legislative, executive and judiciary are protesting, who will change things for the better? Save your outrage for things more important than the chhole bhature debate, let your voice be heard for the things that matter, things that would make you happier. If not then can you blame the policymakers who decide on your behalf what’s good for you? The voice of reason gets drowned out in the roar of chaos. Don’t let it.
Lastly and probably most importantly, do away with comparisons if you can. Comparing your success with others will only make you miserable. Happiness comes from within it is said. Here is a wonderful Brazilian short story that might help you gain perspective.
Are these definite ways to bring happiness? I’m not sure. The mystery of happiness eludes me as much as it does India in the WHI, but I am willing to give it a try. Sitting on a Dharna or calling for a Bharat Bandh and damaging public/private property would certainly not get me anywhere. A common blessing in north India given by the elders to their juniors is “Khush raho” which translates to ‘be happy’; we probably need it more than we ever did in this day and age when 4.5% of India’s population suffers from depression and another 38 million Indians suffer from anxiety disorders.
If you know the secret to happiness or ever do in the future, don’t forget to let me know.