Witoubou Newmai
People in this conflict ridden generation had enough already. But even as the limit is still being stretched with the rat-race of all fronts and furies bringing about the vacuous state of lifestyles, the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, though it carries a different dimension of problem, has stretched the limit too far. As such, people are desperate for the quickest outlets to release the steam. The pandemic experience has also brought back clichéd and long ignored sayings about happiness to the human mind.
On a larger horizon, people are also going to be inspired more than ever before by the Bhutan’s idea of Gross National Happiness even as the prevailing pandemic experience has taught us what exactly is to live with fear and anxiety. In other words, the present generation is collectively learning from this pandemic how to appreciate the “freedom from fear.”
Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the fourth king of Bhutan, for the first time, introduced Gross National Happiness, in 1972. “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” Wangchuck boldly declared.
The Gross National Happiness Index has nine domains and four pillars. 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. The four pillars of Gross National Happiness include sustainable and equitable socio-economic development; environmental conservation; preservation and promotion of culture; and good governance.
“When the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution titled ‘Happiness: Towards A Holistic Approach To Development’ in July 2011 urging member nations to measure the happiness and well-being of their citizens and calling happiness a ‘fundamental human goal’, it also acknowledged that the initiative was the small country of Bhutan and the ‘happiness project’ the Buddhist Himalayan kingdom had been pursuing since the early 1970s,” wrote Venkitesh Ramakrishnan two years ago in Frontline magazine.
10 years down the line after the passage of the resolution by the UNGA, we find the ‘happiness’ measures being taken up in various parts of the world constructed best suited to their respective societies.
Though there have been sections of commentators challenging concepts such as these measures regarding ‘happiness’ that it is everything to do with the making of individuality to be happy or otherwise, the Bhutanese concept seems to be permeating the modern world.
Among the countries and their steps focusing on ‘happiness’, the 2019 New Zealand’s “Well-Being Budget” has attracted wide attention.
“The budget (Well-Being Budget of New Zealand) requires all new spending to go toward five specific well-being goals: bolstering mental health, reducing child poverty, supporting indigenous peoples, moving to a low-carbon-emission economy, and flourishing in a digital age,” said journalist Sigal Samuel.
The purpose of recalling and mentioning these activities and measures is a humble attempt to start talking more about ‘happiness’ amid the onslaught of hyperboles or otherwise which are burdening humanity today. It is also an attempt to say that appreciating the spirit to talk about happiness is a big beginning which may shape the local discourses to happy structures someday.
