Write an Essay on topic - GDP (Gross Domestic Product) along with GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness) would be the right indices for judging the wellbeing of a country
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Indian economy is one of the fastest growing large economy. It is a bright spot, as say the IMF. India is expected to surpass the “growth miracle” China this year which is expected to grow sub 7% as compared to India’s growth rate of around 7.5%. GDP is a measure of well being which was devised by eminent economist Simon Kuznets during depression era for the aid of then US president Franklin Roosevelt. But at the same time he suggested to use it cautiously as its a very narrow indicator of well being. Despite that in 1944 it was adopted in Bretton Woods conference as a standard for measuring wellbeing. Since then almost all countries has adopted it for measuring their development. Given the changed global scenario, it is pertinent to ponder whether GDP is a good indicator or should it be assisted or replaced with other parameters.
In 1972, fourth king of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuk came up with the term of Gross National Happiness (GNH). He rejected the idea of GDP as it measured only material well being. Whereas in GNH, material well being is important as well as well being in culture, community, knowledge and wisdom, governance, health, spirituality and psychological welfare.The concept implies that GNH should take holistic approach towards notion of progress and give equal importance to non economic aspect of well being also. Hence Bhutan become the first, and till date only, country to have adopted GNH as official measure for development as against GDP. UN supported this concept when it passed a resolution in 2011 inviting member countries to measure happiness of their people and use it to formulate public policies. UN comes up with annual Happiness Report. As per last report, India was ranked 117 out of 158 countries, well below Bhutan (79) and even Pakistan (81) and China (84).
GNH is based on 4 pillar: good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, cultural preservation and environmental conservation. These pillars are further classified in nine domains in order to create widespread understanding of GNH and to reflect the holistic range of GNH values. The nine domains are: psychological wellbeing, health, education, time use, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards. For some, measuring happiness looks vague but one of the political thinker of Bhutan aptly elaborated this concept as “an aspiration, a guiding principle through which Bhutan is navigating a path for sustainable and equitable society”. As per the last GNH survey of 2015, few interesting facts came out: men were happier than women, urban people were happier than rural people, businessmen happier than farmers, more educated people were happier, single person happier than married/ divorced/ separated. Further there was regional disparity in terms of happiness.
Development is a dynamic concept and not a static one. It has often been criticised that GNH is a very vague concept and it will be difficult to compare development between different countries as they all have different parameters. But it is important to understand that GNH provides a set of economic and non economic indicators which a country and countrymen aspire for. Unlike GDP which only measure economic indicator while overlooking inequality, corruption, class and caste conflicts and environmental degradation. As noted earlier, GNH survey in Bhutan threw up some important facts in terms of level of happiness. These are not mere facts but inputs for future policy making which would serve in making Bhutan a more equitable and sustainable society. This was observed when GNH survey of 2015 was compared with that of 2010. Increase in GNH was more equalizing.
Bhutan a landlocked country and unlike India she is resource starved. Its very existence depends upon environment condition.When social and economic indicators of India and Bhutan are compared, few interesting facts comes up. Bhutan has higher per capita GDP, lower unemployment rate and inflation, ranked better in ease of doing business and corruption than India (source: tradingeconomics.com), despite the fact that India is “fastest” growing country in the world. Only 12% of population lives below poverty line in Bhutan as compared with 21.9% in India (UNDP). When we compare social indicators, situation does not change much. Under 5 mortality rate is 56 in India where as it is 45 in Bhutan, Infant and neo-natal mortality rate in India is 44 and 31 whereas it is 36 and 21 in Bhutan (source Unicef). Situation remain same in favor of Bhutan when compared nutrition and other health parameters. India did well in educational parameters. The above contrasting scenario aptly points out that Bhutan, by using GNH instead of GDP, has formulated public policies targeting poverty reduction, improvement in health policies and good governance at the same time conserving environment.
In 1972, fourth king of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuk came up with the term of Gross National Happiness (GNH). He rejected the idea of GDP as it measured only material well being. Whereas in GNH, material well being is important as well as well being in culture, community, knowledge and wisdom, governance, health, spirituality and psychological welfare.The concept implies that GNH should take holistic approach towards notion of progress and give equal importance to non economic aspect of well being also. Hence Bhutan become the first, and till date only, country to have adopted GNH as official measure for development as against GDP. UN supported this concept when it passed a resolution in 2011 inviting member countries to measure happiness of their people and use it to formulate public policies. UN comes up with annual Happiness Report. As per last report, India was ranked 117 out of 158 countries, well below Bhutan (79) and even Pakistan (81) and China (84).
GNH is based on 4 pillar: good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, cultural preservation and environmental conservation. These pillars are further classified in nine domains in order to create widespread understanding of GNH and to reflect the holistic range of GNH values. The nine domains are: psychological wellbeing, health, education, time use, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards. For some, measuring happiness looks vague but one of the political thinker of Bhutan aptly elaborated this concept as “an aspiration, a guiding principle through which Bhutan is navigating a path for sustainable and equitable society”. As per the last GNH survey of 2015, few interesting facts came out: men were happier than women, urban people were happier than rural people, businessmen happier than farmers, more educated people were happier, single person happier than married/ divorced/ separated. Further there was regional disparity in terms of happiness.
Development is a dynamic concept and not a static one. It has often been criticised that GNH is a very vague concept and it will be difficult to compare development between different countries as they all have different parameters. But it is important to understand that GNH provides a set of economic and non economic indicators which a country and countrymen aspire for. Unlike GDP which only measure economic indicator while overlooking inequality, corruption, class and caste conflicts and environmental degradation. As noted earlier, GNH survey in Bhutan threw up some important facts in terms of level of happiness. These are not mere facts but inputs for future policy making which would serve in making Bhutan a more equitable and sustainable society. This was observed when GNH survey of 2015 was compared with that of 2010. Increase in GNH was more equalizing.
Bhutan a landlocked country and unlike India she is resource starved. Its very existence depends upon environment condition.When social and economic indicators of India and Bhutan are compared, few interesting facts comes up. Bhutan has higher per capita GDP, lower unemployment rate and inflation, ranked better in ease of doing business and corruption than India (source: tradingeconomics.com), despite the fact that India is “fastest” growing country in the world. Only 12% of population lives below poverty line in Bhutan as compared with 21.9% in India (UNDP). When we compare social indicators, situation does not change much. Under 5 mortality rate is 56 in India where as it is 45 in Bhutan, Infant and neo-natal mortality rate in India is 44 and 31 whereas it is 36 and 21 in Bhutan (source Unicef). Situation remain same in favor of Bhutan when compared nutrition and other health parameters. India did well in educational parameters. The above contrasting scenario aptly points out that Bhutan, by using GNH instead of GDP, has formulated public policies targeting poverty reduction, improvement in health policies and good governance at the same time conserving environment.
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