KARACHI:
It is extremely hard to digest how a country such as Pakistan could be amongst the 20 who have improved their position in the World Happiness Index. While such a criterion may provide some sort of absurd result, such as determining how happy a country is, the ground realities are that people in Pakistan remain miserable. High inflation, extreme inequality, terrorism, ethnic violence and corruption have broken the back of the majority, while millions have fallen into poverty over the last decade.
The trick here is to understand the measurement instrument first: the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network has used six indicators to determine the amount of happiness of the people which include income per capita, life expectancy, social support, freedom, generosity and corruption. Only a fool could believe that these indicators have more to do with happiness than with economics. Did no one ask the people how they actually feel? The fact of the matter is that emotions, no matter how simple or complex, cannot be quantified; and Pakistan, a country that has always had deep connections with spirituality, should be well aware of this. But with the rise and eventual dependency on technology, it is evident that the meaning of happiness has been significantly morphed. All meaning now converge to the ideals of capitalism, with technology aiding its justification.
Sania Shahzadi
Rawalpindi
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2020.
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