By Sushil Kutty
In the pictures accompanying the report, everybody is smiling. Even the chubby baby. But behind the happiness, there’s unhappiness. We are talking of ‘Bharat, that is India’ and the World Happiness Report for 2024 which makes sad reading for Indians who have been thrown to the wolves because of a sick ranking in the World Happiness Index. At No.126, India is unhappier than Pakistan. Worse, the unhappiness comes shining through with all its ugliness. Imagine 900 million unhappy voters lining up across the length and breadth of India in a month from now to vote in a new government for a happier India?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should hang his head in despair; for, if there isn’t happiness, there can only be despair. And, according to the World Happiness Index, Indians should be in the depths of despair, as India is at nearly the very bottom of the index. India’s women – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Nari Shakti” – are unhappy, says the report. India’s youth are unhappier, says the report, ranked as they are at No.127 in the index.
The top 10 countries have not changed places since last year and India hasn’t, too, at No.126. So, it is an accomplishment. Standing still at the same place isn’t easy. We can always hark back to the Covid-19 pandemic to justify our non-accomplishment. If the United States and Germany haven’t fallen from their pedestals in the rankings, India has remained consistently unhappy and that is something to be happy about.
As expected, Eastern European nations remain the most happy. Finland tops for the seventh year in succession. Indians should ask why? Could it be because there is neither Narendra Modi nor Rahul Gandhi in Finland? Ditto Denmark, Iceland and Sweden. Israel continues in the top five and people were saying Modi and Netanyahu were bum-chums. The fact of the matter is, in real-life happiness, India is closer to Afghanistan and Congo, Sierra Leone, Lesotho and Lebanon.
The United States went to No.23 from last year’s No.16. Canada, even with the Khalistanis and Justin Trudeau, is at No.15. Rishi Sunak’s UK is at No.20 and Emmanual Macron’s France is “happy to be” at No.27.
Among Modi’s friendly countries, the UAE is at 22 and Saudi Arabia is at 28. Singapore at 30, Japanat 50, and South Korea at No.51. Compared to India at 126, arch rival China is ranked No.60. Nepal is happier at the 93rd position and Pakistan is at 108, happier than India. Expect the Pakistanis to take this to town, to Lahore and Karachi. Ditto Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh; all with reason to be happier still.
So, why are Indians eternally unhappy, or currently unhappy? The report talks about “older age associated with higher life satisfaction” except that older Indian women are less happy. Education and caste matter. So does being scheduled caste and scheduled tribe. Identity takes a toll on overall happiness. Strange thing is, worldwide women are less happy than men. India’s women under Prime Minister Narendra Modi are less happy than their male counterparts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should seriously consider voluntary retirement with all the benefits it entails, for everybody’s sake. For the women’s happiness, for the youth’s gender-dividend; for the happiness of chubby-cheeked babies, so that they grow up into strong children, happy and satisfied; for India’s industry to be in a happier frame of mind for taking India to the commanding heights of sheer happiness.
Talking of happiness, one would have thought, India’s youth had everything to be happy about, to spread happiness to every nook and corner. Guess what, it is hard to believe that India’s youth are a gender-dividend of utter unhappiness. Young Indians (aged 30 and below) rank at No.127 in the World Happiness Index. The next time some ruling party spokesperson talks of Indian youth brimming with happiness under BJP rule, strip him/her of his/her voice. Tell him/her of the truely happy youth of Lithuania, Israel, Serbia, Iceland and Denmark, the top five happy youth countries in the World Happiness Index.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘New India’ is pitifully short in happy youth though there are plenty of smartphone-wielding smart-alecs roaming the alleys of dissatisfaction, leading wild lives. Finland fell to seventh rank but India ranked at 127 should seriously reconsider key factors that make youth happy. Aspirational youth? Give youth education and jobs and they will find their place.
The onus is on the government of the day to meet those aspirations. The unhappy youth of India are the biggest reason why the World Happiness Index shouldn’t be thrown to the winds. On the eve of the general elections, India’s standing in the World Happiness Index should become part of voter-awareness. Ten years of Modi rule hasn’t made a difference to India’s happiness though unhappiness is quite the calling card.
The government at the Centre has much to explain. Happiness depends on so many variables. Prices, plenty and the simple pleasures of life, like a full belly. Paying job is another source of joy and happiness. Everybody wants to be a breadwinner. And everybody wants rule of law and a crime-free life. Apparently, under Modi’s watch, despite the economy attaining fifth largest in the world status, Indians aren’t as happy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi would like Indians and non-Indians to believe.
Why? A serious study is called for. Find out why happiness has not spread in India under Modi’s watch? Who is responsible, the Modi government or the state governments? According to BJP talking heads, Narendra Modi has with the Ayodhya Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha brought happiness to 1 billion Hindu Indians. Modi also spread happiness with the happy landing of Chandrayaan at the ‘Shiv-Shakti Point’. Modi spread happiness with the New Delhi G20 Summit. The Modi government also spread happiness with the abrogation of Article 370, and the end of Triple Talaq, not to speak of enacting the CAA rules. India’s happiness has increased multifold under Modi rule and yet the World Happiness Index isn’t satisfied. Seriously, India’s poor position on the World Happiness Index should be the guiding force, the ‘Shakti’, to bring about the required course-correction. What we have now is an India with long faces and longer wish-lists. (IPA Service)
