Indians are 'happiest'...Really?

A recent poll shows that Indians are amongst the happiest people in the world. Really! then we should also be rated as the most optimistic country in the world. I am sure that those who did this happiness poll took into account the following –


• According to the Human Development Report 2011, the human development index (HDI) positions India at 134 out of 187 countries and territories. Bangladesh and Pakistan are ranked at 146 and 145, respectively.

• India fairs poorly on Gender equality. Actually it is ranked a poor 129th out of 146 countries on the Gender Inequality Index, below Bangladesh and Pakistan, which are ranked at 112 and 115, respectively. In fact, Afghanistan is the only country ranked below India in the South Asian region on the Gender Inequality Index.

• Among BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) nations, India has the highest inequalities in human development.

• Newly released United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs ( UN-DESA) data for 150 countries over 40 years shows that India is the most dangerous place in the world to be a baby girl. An Indian girl child aged 1-5 years is 75% more likely to die than an Indian boy, making this the worst gender differential in child mortality for any country in the world. Infact India and China are the only two countries in the world where female infant mortality is higher than male infant mortality in the 2000s. The UN report is clear that high girl child mortality is explained by socio-cultural values. Higher female mortality from age 1 onwards clearly indicated sustained discrimination.

Ode to happiness! What an irony!

• 53.7 per cent Indians have been placed in the bracket of multi-dimensionally poor (612 million), the largest concentration of such poor persons in the world. Multidimensional Poverty Index indicates deprivations on multiple counts such as health, education and living standards.

• Fifty-eight per cent of the world's open defecation is attributed to India, making it one of the most dirtiest & filthiest country in the world.

And still we are happy...sorry happiest? I am sure those who were surveyed in the poll are the ones who sit in their office with no work, except watching videos on their mobile handsets.

True state of a country or an organizational happiness does not come from wishful thinking or ‘planned’ surveys. To know the state of engagement of citizens of a country or an organization, one has to first get the data right...but even before that one has to have the courage & intention to face the reality.

The funny part is that most of these surveys are also conducted by organization for whom it is important to have more clientele. The client also wants to have a fancy tag. So, both of them join hands. And, so the client is happy, the surveyor is happy...May be that is how they get the ‘happy data’.