Healthy atmosphere a prerequisite for development

There are many significant accomplishments to the credit of Indians, in several fields of human endeavor, which serve to warm the cockles of theirfellow Indians.

One of them, certainly, is that Mukesh Ambani, the Indian captain of industry, who heads up Reliance Industries, ranks as the 10th richest person in the world, after such well-known persons as Bernard Arnault, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Likewise, the Indian languages, Hindi and Bengali, figure in the list of the most spoken languages of the world, with Mandarin Chinese leading the group. Another reason, for every Indian to feel proud and satisfied, is that India stands at rank 33, out of 125 countries, in the matter of its artists securing awards at the international level, from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In many other areas, however, in which the performance of India leaves a lot to be desired. It is most disappointing, for instance, that India stands, at a very pathetic 126th rank, in the World Happiness Index for 2023, a situation attributable to the mental health crisis in the country, worsened by the Covid – 19 pandemic. In countries, such as Finland and Denmark, on the other hand, people enjoy the best of what life has to offer.

Likewise, India stands, at rank 60, in the World Physical Quality of Life Index, a significant measure of the well-being, of a country, a concept originally developed, in the 1970s, by the American economic historian, Morris David Morris, in response to continued dissatisfaction with the use of the Gross National Product (GNP), as a development indicator of countries. Unsurprisingly, Luxembourg heads the list, with the Netherlands hard on its heels. Beyond the essential ideas, of broad access to housing, quality education, health care and employment, Quality of Life also may include intangibles, such as job security, political stability, individual freedom and environmental quality. Sweden, Norway and Canada head the world rankings as they are seen as treating their citizens well. India stands at 60.

Another ranking system, of fundamental relevance to the current situation, in the world, is the Global Peace Index, released yearly by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a Sydney-based think tank.

In that ranking, which takes into account 23 indicators, including factors such as safety, security, ongoing domestic and international conflict it is Iceland, once again, which proudly maintains the status as the most peaceful country in the world, having performed that feat for the 17th consecutive year to boot! India, again, figures at a very disturbing 126. And that number is apparently to be regarded as encouraging, on account of so-called advancements in areas such as violent crime, relations with neighbouring countries and political stability!

Among the more important ranking processes undertaken at the international level, is the Global Organised Crime Index, an innovative tool supported by the government of the United States of America, to measure levels of organised crime in countries and assess their resilience to criminal activity. And, once again, it is Finland which is the Abou Ben Adhem of that list, for the year 2023. India was given a ranking of 81 from among 144 countries, nothing to write home about.

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation systematically gathers statistics relating to the tourism sector from the various countries in the world. As in the case of the index oforganised crime, one derives comfort from the fact that India’s rank is not as bad in 2023 as it was in the previous year, rising, as it did, from 146 to 127.

Gender equality is a feature in which the performance of countries is regarded as critical, in the context of rising international concern about continued discrimination against women. The US news 20 Best Countries for Women Rankings,for 2023, were drawn from the global survey responses of nearly 9,000 women and highlight countries, according to respondents’ perceptions, about a country’s gender equality and income equality, whether the country is progressive and safe, and whether the country cares about human rights.Iceland, as in the case of many other indices, occupies the top position. So far as India is concerned, however, despite the constitutional protection accorded to women’s rights, discrimination in favour of men continues in many realms. Once more, one derives a modicum of comfort from the marginally improved performance of India,with its rank rising from 146 to 127.

More disturbing news comes, in the shape of, India being ranked third out of 214 countries, so far as the spectre of atmospheric pollution is concerned, making it the third largest emitter of Greenhouse Gases, after China and the USA, in 2021, according to a report of the United Nations Statistics Division.In overall performance, in regard to efforts aimed at combating climate change, India’s rank is 10 out of 57 countries, according to a report prepared by German watch, a non-profit non-Government Organisation, based in Bonn.

In yet another highly critical area, namely hunger, India ranks 111, out of a total of 125 countries, in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023. According to the GHI 2023 report, Belarus, Chile and China are among the top ranked countries (i.e., low levels of hunger) and Yemen, Madagascar, and the Central African Republic figure at the bottom.

In one more important realm, of human rights, a world ranking report, co-published by the American libertarian Think tank, Cato Institute, and the Canadian libertarian – conservative public policy think tank, Fraser Institute, shows that Switzerland, followed by New Zealand and Denmark, are at the top,while India stands at 112 out of 165 countries.

And to end this rather serious discussion on a lighter note, we move on to the arena of sports, and the relative performance, of various countries of the world, in that. A report prepared, by PR strategist Adele Halsall, shows that Germany, and the United States of America, head the list, with India figuring at number 30, out of 134 countries looked at. Australia comes out as the world’s sportiest country. Taiwan as the most recreationally active and USA,as highest medal winner at the Olympic games.It is a matter for gratification in this context, that, recently, Union Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare,Anurag Thakur, on Monday said that India is trying to host the 2036 Summer Olympics, and that, by 2047, the country will be among the top-5 medal winning nations in the world. That Indians are among the most progressive, and successful, persons in the world can hardly be disputed. They may not quite be in the same class as the Japanese, for a sense of honour, the Chinese for innovation, the Germans for hard work, or the Americans for a liberal and ‘devil may care’ attitude. Still one can hardly take away from the contribution they have made, in several parts of the world, to various spheres of human endeavour. Indian cricketers, for example, have excelled in the domestic county cricket of England, where that game was born. Likewise, Indian software engineers have carved a niche for themselves in Silicon Valley of California, and enterprising culinary experts from the country have succeed remarkably in the food and beverage business in many cities of the world. The disappointing performance of the country, in the overall sense, is probably attributable to a certain lack of ability to treat the next person’s success as one’s own.We tend to spend more time trying to spoil the chances of others than on improving our own performance. This was brought home to me in a telling manner during the days when, as the Managing Director of the Andhra Pradesh Fisheries Development Corporation, in the late 1970s, I was experiencing difficulty in exporting fresh prawns to Japan. “Don’t worry”, a friend said to me, “Indian prawns will never let even one among them to escape from the container. Even before one of them can climb to the edge, one of the others will pull it down!”.

(In Part 1 of the article published last week we failed to give credit to the writer inadvertently.)

(The writer was formerly Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh)