India’s growth story is under attack from the West – Arun Anand

India’s low ranking in the World Happiness Index shows the West’s discomfort with the way India has been rising over the past one decade because of a Bharat-centric model – Arun Anand

There are two developments that have taken place in the international stage that indicate the flawed framework of the West in the context of evaluating the Indian success story. These two developments are the release of the World Happiness Report and an article in the international publication The Economist.

 World Happiness Index

This index ranks countries worldwide on the Happiness index. This index is part of the World Happiness Report. This report is prepared jointly by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the WHR’s Editorial Board. The report is produced under the editorial control of the WHR Editorial Board.

The concept of happiness as a measure of development and growth was pioneered by Bhutan.  The criterion was altogether different at that time. And then the West took over and did with this concept as it does to most of the things that it has hijacked from the other parts of the world. The West has manipulated this criterion in such a way that the outcome can be termed as ‘ridiculous’.  This year’s report reflects how forced conclusions are flaunted through this report to deflate India’s success story. When the West couldn’t counter India’s growth story through GDP numbers and other standard economic statistics, it started using questionable concepts like a ‘happiness index’.

What could be more ridiculous than the fact that India has been put much below Pakistan, Palestine and Ukraine on the Happiness Index. Ukraine has been almost decimated during its war with Russia, Pakistan is on the verge of bankruptcy and people are getting killed while trying to grab some basic rations, the majority of its population is suffering ethnic violence, internal strife, very high inflation, a failed democracy. Most Pakistanis are so fed up that they want to leave their country.  Palestine is absolutely devastated after an Israeli counter offensive. There is hardly any food, medicine and there is rampant radicalisation in this West Asian tract of land that is yet to get recognition as a country by many. In fact, Palestine is a known hub of Islamic terrorists with groups like Hamas having a strong presence here.

Any individual with common sense, looking at the parameters of judging a happiness index, would fail to find any rationale behind this kind of ranking. The six parameters are-GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, freedom of corruption.

India is ranked 126th in this index that was released in 2024. Countries like Libya, Niger and Iraq have been ranked higher than India!  These countries have been wrecked and have been facing civil strife, terrorism, poor economic growth and political instability for decades now while India is the most thriving democracy, fastest growing economy of the world and symbolises political and social stability. Yet they have been put above India on the Happiness index.

False Narrative on North-South Divide

Noted international magazine The Economist published an article titled “To see India’s future, Go south“. The tagline reads, “The country’s regional division could make it—or break it.” A look at some excerpts from the article shows how a false bogey of north-south divide is being created where none exists. This is another attempt to damage India’s image as a rising economic power. The Economist wrote, “Most people know that India is a rising economic power. It is already the world’s fifth-largest economy and is growing faster than any big rival, with a turbocharged stock market that is the fourth-largest of any country’s. It is also common knowledge that India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is its most powerful in decades and that, as well as economic development, his agenda includes a Hindu-first populism that can veer into chauvinism and authoritarianism. Less well known is that these competing trends of development and identity politics are together fuelling a striking third trend: a growing north-south split.”

It added, “The wealthy south is where you will find the slick new India, with its startups, its campuses and gleaming iPhone-assembly plants. Yet Mr Modi’s party gets a low share of its votes from there and relies on the poorer, more populous, rural, Hindi-speaking north. This north-south divide will be a defining issue in the election in April and May, in which Mr Modi is expected to win a third term. How the split is managed in the long run is of critical importance to India’s prospects. In one alarming scenario, it could create a constitutional crisis and fracture India’s single market. In a more benign future, resolving this divide could moderate India’s harsh identity politics.”

This is an absolutely misleading, biased and factually incorrect piece. It is a hit job as is the World Happiness Index.

It is clear that a large section in the Western model is not comfortable with the way India has been rising over the past one decade due to a Bharat-centric model. And that is why there is a concerted attempt to challenge this growth story. The intensity and frequency of such attempts are going to grow further as India intends to write its own growth story, build its own rules and follow its own trajectory rather than being remote controlled by the West. – MoneyControl, 25 March 2024

› Arun Anand is an author, columnist, and consulting editor for News18.