By Dr. Gyan Pathak
India has surpassed Japan to become the World’s fourth-largest economy, announced NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam on May 25, and said the country is now poised to displace Germany from the third rank in the next 2.5 to 3 years. The ruling establishment beating drums over it creating such a tumultuous sound that drowns another fact that their wrong strategy of wealth creation for a few in the country has been increasingly making India ever more unhappy in the world. The World Happiness Report 2025 says that India ranked 118th in the world, fallen one rank below compared to 2014, when Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India.
India’s GDP was ranked 10th in the world in 2014 with $2.1 trillion economy. Now it has grown to $4.3 trillion economy, that is more than double. India obviously needs serious introspection why India is becoming more unhappy and raking among the most unhappy nations of the world, even with such a growth in the GDP? Clearly, such a wealth creation is failing to put break on the declining level of well-being and their happiness. It is indicative of the fact that over emphasizing on GDP growth rate is a wrong strategy. Where then the created wealth is going? Everybody knows the answer – in the pockets of a few wealthy, and the proportionate economic growth is not found among the general people.
Life evaluation score in the World Happiness Index in 2014 on a 3-year average basis was 4.565 for India, which was a negative (–)0.207 since 2012. In inequality India ranked 106, in social support 129, in GDP per capita 104, in healthy life expectancy 102, in freedom 47, in generosity 88, in perception of corruption 85, in positive emotion 71, in negative emotion 87, and in donation 88, in volunteering 77, and in helping a stranger 111. They assessed 158 countries that year.
In 2024, World Happiness Index assessed 147 countries of the world, among which India ranked 118th, that was a fall of one rank compared to 2014. It is despite more than doubling the GDP of the country. Its life evaluation score fell to4.389 which was a negative (–)0.383 compared to 2012. It fell sharply in inequality ranking 12 ranks below to 118.
As for social support to its citizens, there is only a little improvement in the last decade only one rank up to 128. What does it mean? It means more propaganda by the government machinery on social support measure, than in realty on the ground. With the support system available before 2014, by UPA government it ranked 129 that year. The score in 2024 shows that social support system is still very bad, which makes India 19th worst countries in the world.
Now come to per capita GDP India ranked 93 in 2024. It is in this backdrop, one should feel ashamed of comparing India’s GDP with biggest economies of the world to claim that India has become world’s 4th biggest economy. However, IMF data made available in April 2025 World Economic Outlook, suggest India was poised to overtake Japan in GDP in 2025, but not yet. Comparing the GDP creates illusion that Indians are at par with the global top five economies, while per capita GDP is far below to 93rd rank in the world. It should be noted that despite the claim that India surpassed Japan to become 4thbiggest economy of the world, per capita income of India as per the World Bank’s GNI was only $10,020 on PPP basis in 2023, while Japan’s per capita income was $33,766, that is over three times that of India.
NITI Aayog’s claim that India will overtake even Germany within 2.5 to 3 years, is like tripling of the shame, since Germany’s per capita income is India’s 7 times at $73,180. Thus NITI Aayog must avoid creating illusion among the people of the country that their economic well being is round the corner under PM Narendra Modi, which is far from reality given the fast-widening economic inequality in the country in the last one decade, which is reflected in the India’s inequality ranking declining from 106 in 2014 to 118 in 2024.
Healthy life expectancy rank is not given in the World Happiness Index 2025. Surprising, in freedom, India’s rank has considerably improved from 47 in 2014 to 23 in 2024. It is despite the fact that democratic freedom in the country has considerably curtailed through many legal and extra-legal measures taken by the government under PM Narendra Modi. How then the rank improved? It is only because many other country performed worse than India in freedom index.
What is more concerning is the sharp fall in positive emotion index ranking from 71 to 89, and negative emotion index ranking from 87th to 117th.
All these suggests that the Modi government’s strategy of creating wealth for a few is fundamentally faulty, in the backdrop of widening inequality. It is also a fault to overestimate the value of wealth in general, since it is simply an illusion that wealth brings happiness and well-being. For example, United States is the no 1 in wealth but ranks 24th in happiness index, China is no 2 in wealth but ranks 68th in happiness, Germany is no 3 in wealth but ranks 22nd in happiness, Japan is no 4 in wealth but ranks 55 in happiness, and India is no 5th in wealth but ranks 118th in happiness.
It shows that the countries who are just after creating wealth are not doing justice to their citizens, because the wealth is generated at the cost of happiness and well-being of the people. India must rethink over its strategy of wealth creation for a few, and stop shamelessly creating a hype around GDP, to hoodwink its own citizens. (IPA Service)
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