Bhutan, which pompously boasts of its gross national happiness index, has some realities worth considering. For example, 20 percent of the total population still lives a nomadic animal-herder life with attire made of animal hides. Can this be an indicator of happiness or is it the struggle for survival?
Up to one-fifth of the population has been subjugated as anti-nationals and expelled from the country to UNHCR-managed cantonments for the last 17 years in conditions that are utterly below human living standards. Is this population satisfied with the index of happiness? Even though the country is Buddhist by practice, eastern Bhutanese belong to a sect different from that of the ruling class, and are banned from worshipping in the latter sect. This community comprises 33 percent of the national population. Are they happy to abide under this forced system?
I don't find any logic behind the happiness policy propagated by Bhutan. If the policy is for the good of the government, then we have nothing to argue about. But if it is supposed to be for the good of the common citizen, then the policy is complete nonsense.
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