Happiness in India – A Continued Conundrum?

Happiness in India – A Continued Conundrum?

Life is a bittersweet symphony. It tests us through its hardships and mesmerizes through its joys. Considering the fleeting nature of life, measuring happiness can be a near impossible task. But this is precisely what the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network has tried to achieve through its World Happiness Report. The idea is to promote the notion that happiness of citizens is a more holistic measure of development. The World Happiness Report has been published by the UN since 2012. Since 2016, the annual report has been made public on 20th March every year, which is UN’s International Day of Happiness. 

Its data is obtained from Gallup World Poll, which measures the ratings of different aspects of national life by respondent’s answers. The sample size for a typical country undergoing the survey is 3000, which the report claims to give a reasonably good estimate at the national level. It uses a self-anchoring life satisfaction scale for each individual called the Cantril Ladder which assesses the happiness level of an individual at a 10-point scale as a measure of the individual’s subjective well-being. For a more comprehensive assessment, six different aspects of society are studied and measured by the report– social support, GDP per capita income, health through life expectancy, freedom of choice, generosity levels in society, and absence of corruption. The report has earned sharp criticism from India for its abysmally low ranking of India. Critics are astonished as to how a rising economy with a burgeoning middle class like India, can be ranked lower than the war-torn Ukraine. In 2023’s World Happiness Report, India was placed at 126th rank, with countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh placed above her in the list. India continues to stay at 126th place as per latest Happiness Report of 2024.

In this article, My City Links tries to demystify this seeming debacle faced by India from the point of view of different people of significance.

Mind Games or A Case of Western Bias?

Within a few days of publishing the World Happiness Report, the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar dismissed it as “mind games” and stated that Indians were happier than Europeans. To know in detail what the ruling party BJP thinks of the report, My City Links interacted with BJP Odisha spokesperson Prakash Rath.

Prakash expressed his views that no Indian can accept the outcomes of the report. He said, “I don’t believe that our country can rank so low in a global happiness report. No citizen of this country can accept this report. Because, India from ancient times has been known as the land of peace and prosperity. We may not be affluent, but inhabitants of India live happily among themselves with whatever they do and earn.” Speaking about the uniqueness of India, Prakash Rath added, “In our country everyone has a religious bent of mind, as India is the birthplace of so many religions. Similarly, many belief systems have also come from outside and established themselves in our country. There is linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity. We are also known as the nation of saints and sages. India is the land of sacrifice and penance. So, only Indian culture speaks about global peace and happiness. For instance, even today whenever yajnas are performed, oblations of ghee are offered for world peace and happiness. So, if you ask me, then India deserves the No.1 spot in any global happiness index.”

Elaborating on the causes behind such rankings, Prakash Rath replied, “Historically India has seen foreign invasions and colonial rule. The British ruled over our country for 300 years and took away our wealth. They tried to destroy our great culture and civilization. So, the Western powers have always been jealous of India. They always want to undermine our nation. Today India is becoming a Vishwaguru, we have become the 5th largest economy in the world, and we have reached the south pole of the moon. Our economy is rising rapidly and our stature as a nation has grown. That is why there is growing jealousy in the west. In my opinion, the outcomes of this report are completely false.”

Government’s Defence on Six Factors of Happiness

We mentioned the six factors which the World Happiness Report considered to reach its conclusions to Prakash Rath. To this Prakash Rath listed out the different steps taken by the central government for ensuring happiness of the citizens. In case of social support, Prakash explained that the government started different schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi for farmers, food security through Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, building toilets for rural homes, Ujjwala Yojana for gas connection to rural families, loans to SHG groups, separate department for fisheries welfare, different schemes for tribal communities, low-cost housing schemes for lower and middle income families and so on. To ensure the next point – Health of citizens, Prakash Rath mentioned the Ayushman Bharat scheme for affordable healthcare for the poor. As far as per capita income is concerned, he answered that 25 crore families have been lifted out of poverty in the past ten years. 

Prakash highlighted that contrary to the report’s assessment, the government has created better opportunities for the youth with schemes such as Mudra Yojana for small business financing and Start-up India for encouraging the youth to convert their innovative ideas to business. Moving on to the next point of generosity levels in society, the BJP spokesperson reiterated that Indian society has the ingrained virtue of charity since olden times. He gave the example of how Indians donate willfully for different socio-cultural and religious purposes as per their capacity. In times of need, ordinary citizens come forward in great numbers to help the needy. He opined that our society is also sensitive to the needs of birds and animals, to whom people provide food and shelter. Finally, on the issue of corruption, the BJP spokesperson highlighted how their government has had a zero tolerance approach towards it. He gave the example of the different raids conducted by the ED and CBI on dealing with corruption. Prakash concluded by saying that all these measures have made India a happier place to live in.

Hard Reality of Our Times – the Congress Viewpoint

In order to get the complete political picture of the World Happiness Report, My City Links got in touch with Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee’s Chairman of Media and Communications Department, Dr. Biswaranjan Mohanty. 

Refuting BJP’s claims, he said, “PM Narendra Modi had shown colourful dreams to people from all sections of society. If people from all sections of society are happy, then how come the happiness index ranks India at such a low position? The BJP government says it has done different schemes for different sections of society. Then why are its fruits not visible? It is certain that all the lofty promises, and rosy pictures were ‘jumlas’ for elections, or a way to woo the voters. This happiness index is an indicator that people of the country are not happy. Even our neighbours like Pakistan and Bangladesh are faring better than us. This is because the PM has not fulfilled the promises he has made to the public.”

Sharing his viewpoint on the six factors in the report, Biswaranjan said, “All the six points mentioned in the happiness report for ranking are the basic necessities for happiness. Social security schemes are not reaching the public. While the BJP politicians have become richer within the last ten years, the different sections of society are facing injustices and are being ignored. That is why Rahul Gandhi has started the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The BJP government has failed in all these six indicators.”

On BJP’s accusations of bias in the report, Biswaranjan said, “If the rankings of the happiness report had been good, then the BJP would not have deemed it as a biased report. When an organisation presents the real picture, then the ruling party is trying to give a political twist to it. We have to accept the real picture. We have to take the Happiness index in tandem with the Hunger Index. Like the Happiness Index, India has also fared badly in the Hunger Index. Then how can we say that people are happy? The NITI Aayog report claims that crores of people have come out of poverty in the past ten years. What is the basis of that report? How did they establish this fact? We don’t know.”

Common Citizens Speak their woes

While there definitely are some reasons to believe Indians are better off than yesteryears, on many counts it is evident that the general mood of people might not be a happy one. My City Links interacted with a few common citizens, to know what is bothering them the most.

Udit Lenka, a college student, shared his views, “Our educational system has become so burdensome that any activity of fun or merry-making is looked down upon. A desire to excel is leading to increased expectations, which when unfulfilled leads to sadness.” Another student Sunita Bhoi expressed, “I think the issues of economic and gender inequalities which our society has, are contributing to dissatisfaction among the common citizens”. Corporate employee Sunil Dixit said, “When we listen to India’s economic progress, our aspirations increase. But that doesn’t transpire to the prosperity of common people, as only the top 10% of the rich population are getting the maximum fruits of progress.” 

Inequality among citizens creates a comparing mindset among them. 30-year-old businessman Arun Patra shared, “Social media has made things worse. Today everyone is flaunting their riches in it, just to show how happy they are. This is breeding a comparison mindset which affects the general populace. This, I believe, is the root cause of decreased happiness levels in our society.”

Some people also cited a slow judiciary as a major cause behind low happiness levels. “Files of criminal cases and family disputes languish in the courts for decades, as those desiring justice are made to wait for a long time. This is leading to frustration and sadness among litigants.”, shared Muktikanta Parida. 

For a deeper understanding of happiness, My City Links spoke with Happiness Coach Shyam Agarwal.

A Happiness Coach’s Opinion

Shyam Agarwal is a travelling faculty with the Art of Living Foundation. He teaches various programs such as the Youth Program and the Happiness Program. Describing the concept of happiness in Indian society, he said, “Happiness in Indian culture means to perform one’s duty happily. The idea is to live life in such a way that we are happy and content with whatever we earn. In India, if you see, our forefathers and even our parents were always happy with what they had. They never used to complain about a lack of prosperity as they were always content. So, our culture was always to be happy, joyful, enthusiastic and cheerful about life with whatever we possess.”

We asked Shyam whether there was a link between happiness and prosperity levels, to which he replied, “There are people with jobs who are happy, there are also people who are not happy with their jobs. People who are married and are happy, but there are also people who are unhappy with their marriage. There are people who have money and are happy, there are also people who have money who are not happy. There is no way to decide what the minimum amount of wealth one needs. It is a perception that varies from person to person. So, my point is that happiness has no link with what you have.” On the question of how to have sustained happiness, Shyam said, “To have sustained happiness, we have to make it a practice. Happiness is a choice. To sustain it, one has to change a lot of things and inculcate a lot of new things in life. The most important thing to include is spirituality through yoga and meditation. Through these, we can realise that we are not running after happiness. Rather we are happy.”

Shyam stated that it is not wrong to expect happiness in life. But one should be careful not to derive happiness from any material thing. Because if we try to derive happiness from material things, then we might be happy or sad in the long run. Shyam explained, “For instance, you have a goal which you achieved after five years. So, you spend five years there, and even after that you realise that you don’t feel happy. That achievement didn’t give you satisfaction. Then you start planning for something else. One after another when you shift goalposts, you are also postponing your happiness. So, my point is that joy is there in that moment. It is not an outcome of something. Rather it is the process of doing something.”

Shyam opined that by doing work with a happy state of mind, one can be the best version of themselves. In that case, even if one doesn’t have the best outcome, he/she would grow as a person. There is a difference between living life as a pursuit of happiness and as an expression of happiness, according to Shyam Agarwal. To further elucidate his point, Shyam gave the example of a donkey carrying a heavy load in the hope that the carrot hanging through a stick in front of it is obtained. With this analogy, Shyam advises that human beings are not meant to pursue happiness like donkeys, instead they should become happy in the first place and then do their tasks.

Taking this point further, Shyam clarified, “This is the biggest misconception about happiness, that happiness is a product of something. The truth is happiness is always there with us always. We are the source of happiness. We just have to tap that source through a spiritual element in your life.”

We asked Shyam whether being ambitious was detrimental to happiness. He replied that there should be ambitions in life. But one should not be feverish about them. Earning money through strenuous work in youth and becoming unhealthy afterwards is not wise. Rather performing our duties with a happy state of mind is what matters.

Explaining the Art of Living Happiness Program, Shyam Agarwal shared that it is a 3-4 day’s program where the principles, philosophies and meditations of Art of Living are taught. “When you come here you realise the corrections necessary to your lifestyle, you become de-stressed, you experience meditation and breathing exercises. It helps deal with anxiety, depression or insomnia,” Shyam concluded.