On 16th March 2018 – when I was scrolling my Google news feed. A news was highlighted “World Happiness Report, 2018 Out”. I checked it. To my surprise, I learned that even Pakistan is happier than India. Out of 156 nations, India stood at 133, behind Pakistan and Nepal in happiness.
Before this news, I honestly thought that Pakistan was all gloom and terror. The report proved me wrong. I realised that I had never been to Pakistan. How could I have ever made such a judgment? I had seen my country and now realised the problems it was facing.
On the other hand, it’s also true that India is a growing economy and will soon transform into a developed country in the near future.
For explaining this, let’s take two cases:
Case 1-
It can’t be said that a country is happy just by looking at its resources and development. India has good infrastructure but lacks management on both the government’s and people’s side. On the other hand, Pakistan may be far away in terms of infrastructure and development and might be affected by terrorism but still, Pakistanis are happier than India, it is quite amusing.
Indian government focuses on empowering the country externally or say more on showing off power (for example by making world’s tallest statue). The fund usage strategy is also the same for most of the Indian population. People take loans to buy I-phones, cars, houses because the economic status of an average middle-class man is not enough to buy these things. People are not always able to repay on time and spend a substantial part of their lives earning money to lose it.
Case 2-
“Rich people are some of the most miserable ones.”
In the modern world, this statement has changed. I wouldn’t say entirely, but it has changed. Rich people have struggled through their days. They kill their desires, sleep, happiness, and social lives, everything for their dreams. This phase is unhappy for anyone. When anyone takes a step towards their dreams, they become rich. In the same way, the Indian government is struggling to push our economy to the top. With this affecting individual on every level differently, we are bound to be under stress and hence, not happy.
Maybe when we hold the top, we might use this power to kill the hunger, and take out poverty. This phase requires patience. Sometimes unrest increases and people revolt for better standards of living. Some countries are jealous of the rate at which our country is developing. They are therefore using digital media to target our youth and influence them negatively. It seems they know the right spot to hit. The apps that trend these days like PUBG, TikTok or social media platform like Instagram etc. are mostly targeted at youth. Young people are always open to trying new things, but they never understand when a ‘time-pass’ becomes an addiction or obsession.
These two cases, both positive and negative, show why India is a growing economy but still one of the most unhappy nations. But I hope India will be the happiest country one day.