|
By Darryl D'Monte
Bhutan's concept of Gross National Happiness, like E F Schumacher's concept of Buddhist economics, Hazel Henderson's compassionate economics, and the modern measure of Happy Life Years, is a recognition that progress is inextricably linked not with material growth or financial gain but with the absence of suffering or samsara. Darryl D'Monte reports from the world's last Shangri-La
Perhaps the most elusive thing in the world is happiness which, of course, may mean different things to different people. All the same, most people would agree to a minimum programme, which is that anyone content with what s/he has, rather than hankering for what s/he doesn’t have, is happy.
Only recently, Prince Charles endorsed Bhutan’s concept of Gross National Happiness or GNH -- in contrast to Gross National Product or GDP, which is the conventional measure of a country’s progress, or lack of it. The notion was patented by the present king, Jigme Singhye Wangchuk, soon after he ascended the throne at the tender age of 16 after his father’s untimely death. He was ceremonially crowned two years later, when he turned 18, and I was present to report the grand spectacle on behalf of The Times of India, in 1974.
The grand official ceremony was Bhutan’s attempt to announce that it had arrived on the world stage, since few people, even today, are aware of exactly where it is, and whether it is a separate country or part of India or Nepal. It was also to demonstrate to the outside world that it was independent of India, although it is a protectorate and India has a military presence there: Bhutan is wedged between two formidable powers, with China to the north.
For many reasons, but most of all for its remoteness, Bhutan has been known as “the world’s last Shangri-La,” and this also explains why it has been able to evolve the alternative concept of GNH.
When I first visited Bhutan, 32 years ago, it was a desperately poor country. I can vividly recall watching displays of Bhutan’s famed prowess in archery during the coronation, which almost every male is adept at, whilst noticing the scrawny bystanders clad in tatters, even as US and other diplomats tried their hand at this traditional sport. We were wined and dined in great style -- the Oberois catered for the coronation, transporting food and drink all the way from Kolkata. The foreign press, which included a large Indian contingent, was driven from the border up to Thimphu, the capital, and pots of orchids festooned virtually every corner of the zigzag six-hour drive.
I was uneasy at the contrast, where we journalists and foreign guests swilled champagne from 8 am till late at night, while the hoi polloi gaped at the goings-on. I wrote about this at some length, even a full page in The Guardian in London. But it was also impossible not to be enchanted by the sheer beauty of this unspoiled country. The countryside was soft and muted in its hues -- all gentle tans and green fields. The only things that stood out were the dzongs, or fortresses, made of stone and intricately carved wood, which stood like sentinels guarding the verdant valleys. The dzongs, most of which now also serve as administrative headquarters in each district, stood guard against invasions from Tibet in the past.
This trip was purely as a tourist, and many Mumbaikars expressed their astonishment that anyone could be going to a country that so sorely lacked “infrastructure,” as one person put it. That alone should have been reason enough for anyone to go on a holiday there! Another mentioned how there wasn’t a single traffic light in the entire country, which is surely another USP. Since 1974, when Bhutan first threw open its doors to the outside world, it has wisely restricted tourism. Foreigners are compelled to pay around $ 150 a day per head on package tours, without which no one can obtain a visa. Indians, fortunately, are exempt, but very few, regrettably, appear inclined to go to a country where there is little to see except nature in all its pristine glory.
Now Thimphu is a bustling small town and the better hotels are bristling with UN and other multilateral agency “missionaries”. In fact, Bhutan isn’t doing badly, considering that its per capita income, measured by the more accurate purchasing power parity, is just ahead of India’s -- $ 1,759 against $ 1,753. The starkest contrast between the cultures of the two countries is visible at the border: Phuentsholing is an orderly little town, the focus of which is a square with a Buddhist shrine. Walk across the ornamental gate into Jaigaon, which falls in India, and you are greeted by filth, beggars, potholes and the all-too-familiar indices of misery. The irony couldn’t be greater, considering that India’s Border Security Force and other state agencies have built all of Bhutan’s roads and bridges…
At our boutique hotel in Thimphu, I borrowed a massive tome devoted to GNH, papers delivered at a conference a few years ago by mostly foreign academics. The young king apparently developed the concept in the late-1980s. It has a great deal to do with the fact that till half a century ago, Bhutan was not much monetised, but relied largely on barter. Even today, the currency, called ngultrum, is on par with the rupee, which is also legal tender. What’s more, because Bhutan was never colonised, it was spared all the social and economic dislocation that such exploitation brings in its wake. Other examples in the region are Nepal and Thailand, particularly the latter, whose culture -- also Buddhist -- is largely intact. Experts believe that the absence of a colonial power in Bhutan has led to a “creative ambiguity” in that country.
The monarchy was only ushered into Bhutan in 1907, when the Wangchuk vassals asserted their power. It was, and to a large extent still is, a feudal country where the landed gentry calls the shots. The king has married four sisters and has many children, of whom the eldest son is the crown prince. The third king -- the present is the fourth -- introduced land reforms and reduced land taxes. He also abolished the system of serfs. In 1953, the National Assembly was set up and the king voluntarily surrendered his veto. The present king wants to stand down in a few months and usher in a parliamentary democracy, but there is a chorus of protest that might prevent him from doing so. The contrast with the grasping monarchy in Nepal could not be greater. Little wonder that, today, experts term Bhutan “sovereign, secular, stable and modern”.
Where does GNH spring from? It is clear that it is from its strand of Mahayana Buddhism. The roots of this philosophy have to do with realising that progress or advancement is inextricably linked not with material growth or financial gain but with the absence of suffering or samsara. It is this absence of material or mental suffering that, these Buddhists believe, leads to happiness. Indeed, one might argue further that mental well-being is more important than material contentment. It is not as if other religions ignore this approach. After all, the Bible puts it thus: “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?”
Yet, one should not put too much gloss on a concept that is basically prescriptive. Bhutanese tell you that they do not have a clear idea of what the population figure is, but believe that it is around 7.5 lakh. The government has been conducting censuses since the late-1960s, but doesn’t always reveal the findings. According to the CIA, which ought to know, the current population is closer to 2.3 million. The huge disparity is explained by the large number of people of Nepali origin who live and work, without citizenship, in south Bhutan, where there is not only a porous border but also informal work in the shape of support to hydroelectric projects like Chukka, built with Indian aid and technology. As I wrote in 1974, Bhutan prefers to turn a blind eye to this huge population of outsiders, who are a potentially subversive element in an otherwise homogeneous population. In recent years, disaffected elements like the Bodos from India and more recently Maoists from Nepal, have also sought refuge in southern Bhutan, which also has a more salubrious climate.
The harsh truth is that Bhutan in 2000 had a debt of $ 245 million. Paying interest at 5% amounts to $ 12 million a year. Its exports -- largely hydropower and horticulture -- were only $ 154 million a year, which means that the interest swallowed 8% of these earnings. The country imported $ 196 million worth of goods a year, an imbalance of some $ 50 million, which it can ill afford, aid notwithstanding. Earlier, the falling value of the rupee, on which the ngultrum is pegged, also added to the country’s financial woes. Since tourism is selective, Bhutan will have to carve out a way of life that is unique but also sustainable. There are not too many options for a country where scenic beauty is at a premium but the numbers of tourists restricted and backpackers barred. Hydropower, as Indians know only too well, comes at a heavy environmental cost.
A typical example of this Bhutanese way of life is the ban on smoking, which is considered antithetical to the nation’s culture. Unaware of this at Paro airport, where I flew in from Kolkata, I was puzzled when I was asked by customs whether I had any tobacco products, mistakenly under the impression that they were looking for drugs. No one smokes too conspicuously in public and cigarettes aren’t openly sold in shops. Not that this prevents the smoker from obtaining his supplies surreptitiously. And, to compound the confusion, there is no corresponding ban on alcohol -- in fact, Bhutan is renowned even in this country for its rum and distinctive liquors and now even makes drinkable whisky. Bars along the highways are not prohibited from selling spirits, although there do not appear to be too many accidents en route the remote valleys and mountain passes.
One should therefore see GNH for exactly what it is: an attempt to formulate an alternative to a model which is today predicated solely on materialism and yet more materialism, particularly in an age of unbridled economic liberalisation and globalisation. It is similar to the concept that the late environmental journalist Anil Agarwal coined. He postulated a Gross Natural Product that is based on biomass (a natural resource) per head, as distinct from income. He admitted that this was a rhetorical device, one that may not stand up to academic scrutiny, but was useful to score a point. He even went a step further and argued that as Gross National Product increases, Gross Natural Product diminishes.
In the UN Development Programme’s pathbreaking Human Development Reports, economists pointed out in 1995 how the value of voluntary work, which includes housework (almost totally contributed by women and, in the developing world, by children as well), and “cooperative exchange” (not paid for in money) if dollarised would work out to a mind-boggling $ 16 trillion a year. What’s more, this did not figure anywhere in the Gross National Product statistics and yet made for a much more humane and -- dare one say it -- happy society. One should remember, in the Bhutanese context, that the great economist E F Schumacher, who coined the expression “small is beautiful”, also referred to his approach as “Buddhist economics”. Unfortunately, he isn’t much remembered in this country, where Nehru first invited him to advise on the five-year plans; he later developed his seminal ideas in Burma.
Another well-known contemporary economist, Hazel Henderson, has talked of “compassionate economics”, the message being largely the same. Economists -- incidentally, it was traditionally castigated as “the dismal science”! -- have been tinkering with a measure known as Happy Life Years (HLY). This encompasses not only life expectancy but good health and contentment (which would necessarily include a high degree of social security benefits). Thus, for a range of European countries surveyed, Switzerland topped the list with an average of 63 Happy Life Years, while Moldavia was at the bottom of the ladder with just 21.
If one ranked these countries on a scale of 1-10, Switzerland scores 8.1 with Denmark a close second, while Russia scores only 4.2 and Moldavia 3. If one wants some more mathematical rigour, HLY = Life Expectancy at Birth x Happiness along a scale which of course raises as many questions as it answers. But the message is unmistakable, irrespective of the acronyms and formulae involved: man lives not by bread alone…
InfoChange News & Features, June 2006 |
