'GDP as the only measure of progress is illogical': Dasho Karma Ura, president, Centre for Bhutan & Gross National

Interview/ Dasho Karma Ura, president, Centre for Bhutan & Gross National Happiness Studies

Dasho Karma Ura, one of the world’s leading happiness experts, has guided Bhutan’s unique gross national happiness (GNH) project. He uses empirical data to show that money cannot buy happiness in all circumstances, rather it is family and health that have the strongest positive effect on happiness. Excerpts from an interview:

Q/ Bhutan is a unique country which focuses on gross national happiness, not GDP.

A/ Gross national happiness takes a far broader and multidimensional measurement of happiness than the way happiness is measured in the World Happiness Report where you judge your life on a simple 0-10 scale measure. GNH includes both subjective and objective conditions to account for challenges of modernity such as collapse of environment, culture, communities and time. Moreover, unlike GDP, consumer price index or Dow Jones index, where quantities of things are measured in themselves, GNH deals with both quantities of goods and incomes and people’s qualitative experiences of feelings, satisfaction and perceptions. All these measure conditions of happiness.

As an account of progress, GDP is problematic, and legitimising GDP growth as an achievement condones excessive exploitation. Using GDP as the only measure of human well-being and progress is illogical and unethical.

Q/ Bhutan is surrounded by India and China, two economic and military giants. How do you ensure that your country is safe and happy?

A/ I belong to the generation that grew up in the 1970s and 80s, when the inspirational vision of peace dividend prevailed along with the end of the Cold War. But it turned out to be false. Now, there is an increasing diversion of money to arms race. Every nation claims it is for defence. But it is a vicious cycle―as one nation strengthens its defence capability, others feel more insecure, and the arms race goes on. The world has become far more unstable and conflict ridden. The scale of violence has increased and the potential to devastate each other is far greater. I wish pacifism could become a larger discourse in domestic and international governance. Technology and industries involved in weapon-making make tantalising profits out of conflict, insecurity and violence. In such a world, small nations like Bhutan, which have neither the demographic might, nor the economic size to finance arms, lack options, except neutrality. Obviously, neutrality and territorial integrity ought to be respected. It is a very attractive and long-standing idea in Hindu civilisation as well as Buddhist philosophy.

Q/ What would be your message to world leaders to spread happiness and decrease violence and conflict?

A/ I am a nobody in a small country, and a small country is a nobody in the world. But sometimes, revelation comes from small places. Globally, there is a hardening sense of masculine leadership and territorial intrusion. The spectre of violence looms large. Dual-use nuclear technology, weapons production and arms export are counted as contribution to well-being in GDP calculation. It is an instance of measurement gone wrong. Individual and collective fear and insecurity drive international policies. Thinkers in many traditions, including Buddhism, are focused on getting rid of fear among human beings. Irrespective of the global effect, small countries like Bhutan are doing the right thing, and that is the path we will continue to take.