Modi's India Vs Bhutan's Gross National Happiness
What doesn't get measured doesn't get managed. This is the sad story of environmental deterioration around the world, which has been religiously and rigorously measuring gross national product (GNP) to ascertain the growth of a nation. But, a tiny Himalayan country has deviated from such calculation of national progress. The Gross National Happiness (GNH), Bhutan's economic path to development, has been less talked about in mainstream economics. And this is not a fairytale!
It came to the limelight again in mid-June when Vikas Purush, the Indian Prime Minister, as called by his party followers, took Bhutan on his first foreign visit. It is appropriate at this juncture to compare India's path of development with Bhutan's elusive GNH. All environmental-concern citizens of India would rather ponder this GNH and Gross National Product (GNP) with a future perspective.
Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' is still extensively used in currency across the globe to sustain economic growth by exploiting natural resources. The GNP is the ultimate indicator of such growth. It is no joke that Mongolia's annual economic growth is expected to be 15 per cent in the coming years (it was the top in the world in 2013 due to the large-scale mining of gold, coal, and copper). So be in India if green flags have been pre-arranged for all mining proposals at the Ministry of Environmental and Forest and Climate Change!
Despite many Western economic model proponents discarding GNH as 'primitive', its growing acceptance can be seen under progressive indices. As Bhutan has been freely supporting hydropower, even the CSOs are questioning the GNH! However, the UN has unanimously endorsed a green economy with an inherent aspiration for GNH. Bhutan's GNH is a more evolved assessment that integrates a country's values with its development.
The GNH of Bhutan is based on four pillars: sustainable socio-economic growth, good governance, sustainable use of the environment, care of the nation's heritage, and promoting its culture. The four pillars are elaborated in nine domains: psychological well-being, living standards, health, culture, education, community vitality, good governance, balanced time use, and ecological integration. Accordingly, 38 sub-indices, 72 indicators, and 151 variables were developed to define and analyze the happiness of the Bhutanese people. For the Bhutanese, these goals are connected with the state of the natural resources that surround their existence. A Buddhist-inspired holistic and sustainable approach to development, whose goal is happiness. Is it a natural development strategy?
The depreciated value of our natural and national assets- soil fertility, water, air, forest or even monsoon- have been missing in our GNP or GDP calculation, including annual state and union budget, five-year plans and so on. Our economy keeps harping on the same natural resources without valuing their depreciation in ongoing planning. The stock exchanges like NIFTY or NASDAQ BSE, or Sensex won’t buzz if groundwater level falls a few meters in Vidarbha or Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi (KBK) in India.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is becoming famous for his witty/catchy one-liners in his speeches or postings on Twitter. He mentioned during his address to Bhutan's Parliament that 'B4B: Bharat for Bhutan' in a good neighbourhood context. Also, he joked during dinner that Bhutan should add one indicator to its GNH, which is how happy its neighbour is. Can we take some valuable thoughts on GNH? Can it be Bhutan for Bharat?
Like Bhutan, India must also look beyond Western notions of development and growth. The eastern neighbour has shown us the way. The recent deliberate leaked Intelligence Bureau (IB) report on the economic impact of NGO protests in India's retarding growth must be looked into in this context. The projects that were being delayed or stalled by so-called protests by 'foreign hand' guided NGOs are heavily either dependent on or grossly affecting the natural resources of India. Can IB would like to calculate, if they have such expertise, depreciation values of natural resources which would be used in such projects or already wasted by projects? If we can measure such aspects of natural assets, we shall probably protect our 'national security' from such invisible 'foreign hands'!
This squarely guides us to look deeper into a concept like GNH, which is in use just across the border. In fact, Bhutan had drawn the world's interest in the concept by hosting the first international conference on GNH in early 2004. Proponents of GNH strongly believe that it is a more accurate measure of social well-being than GNP in the 21st Century. It probably is no coincidence that Western economies are rapidly degrading environmental life support systems.
Bhutan, which adopted the GNH in the 1980s, has successfully met some development goals (such as education and preserving and expanding its forest cover). Still, in other areas, like land reform and food productivity, problems continue. Balancing existing environmental conservation policies with emerging socio-economic needs is a challenge for Bhutan and all countries. However, the focus on GNH, which makes ecological regeneration the axis for development, is the major learning component here. India must advance research and development to codify ingredients of GNH to be utilised in India and beyond.
One of the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) environmental audits in India (not including depreciation value of environmental elements) has revealed a sorry state of affairs in India regarding waste management, water and air pollution, biodiversity management, and especially Tiger Reserves. Despite the limitation in audit method and capacity, able agencies in India must take queues from here to produce natural asset measurements before national budget presentations.
The green revolution has already revolutionised the fertility of soil in Northern Plane! Now, to cover up this negative fertility of the soil, we have modified crop varieties or massive injections of pesticides to show off the fruits of the green revolution. This has further damaged already degraded soil, contaminating ground water and drinking water and making dead zones at sea. If the country is thinking in line with an Odiya proverb, 'dead elephant is as valuable as a live one', it is in grave danger.
Nearly two months old, the government has been dilly-dallying on sustainable development. The opinions, not decisions yet, on 'development first' coming from Ministries have not gone well with environmentalists. No one is or should stop or oppose any development project if it passes through due diligence with all existing laws and procedures. The GNH may guide, at least, the well-being and sustainability criteria for Indian projects that are lined up.
We are fast degrading our life support system, albeit willingly. In the rush hour of economic growth, at least for this BJP-led NDA government, we must not ignore the fact that our future generation's ability to grow shouldn't be handicapped by our present decisions.