What should be the basis of bench marking and Government decision making ? GDP? or GNH?
In this blog, we shall discuss this aspect and bring forth our perspectives on this topic.
We think that we must place human happiness and well being at the heart of the decision making and governance processes that will shape future investments in scientific and technological research, development, and commercialization because, in the end, technology is not what we seek, but how we seek.
Happiness describes how well a society is doing. GDP only measures one aspect of the country ; its economy. Some other measures of a country’s prosperity are – environment quality, good jobs, well being, health and equality.
As an overall measure of a country’s prosperity, we think that GNH is better. If we work on what the people need (such as healthcare and their economic status), GNH will grow. This means people will work harder, increasing the GDP.
Example:
Middle-eastern countries are highly dependent on oil, and these days, oil has a high value in the market; so the middle eastern governments invest lots of funds into oil extraction and refining. However, once the oil runs out (in the future!) , will there be enough government funds to focus on people’s healthcare?This decreases the economic health of the country, causing a higher mortality rate, which overall decreases the GDP of the country.
Should GDP growth be at the cost of nature/happiness/health?
No, we think GDP shouldn’t be at the cost of anything. We believe that GDP should be the result of happiness and hard-work of the government and its people. The government should not invest all of its money into just increasing its GDP; it will reduce the environmental quality and people’s health, thereby reducing their happiness. If a country bases its economy on something that damages nature, for example producing chemicals, it destroys the environment for future generations. Is it how we want GDP?
Example:
China has the 2nd highest GDP in the world (13.6 trillion USD), but it has sacrificed happiness because it is ranked #93 on the World Happiness Report. Its nature is ruined.
GDP seeking and good nature – USA
The USA has the highest GDP in the world (20.49 trillion USD), yet it is ranked #19 on the World Happiness Report. It has maintained its nature very well.
Happy, yet stable economy – Finland
Finland may not have the biggest economy in the world, but it is ranked #1 in the World Happiness Report. It has also maintained its nature fabulously.
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Conclusion
Though GDP is regarded as the measurement of economy world wide, it is more apt as a measurement of economic growth alone. Many factors should be considered while deriving a country’s growth like Healthcare, Human rights, Freedom to make life choices and of course GDP, not only GDP.
BY AMOGH DEEPAK AND MANDAAR KUMAR , 6B
Ekya School, JP Nagar
Sports not only include hard work and physical exertion, but also involves fun and something that we all enjoy. There are many different types of sports being played in the world. But in this article, we will see how sports play an important role in a student's life.
Students must not focus only on video games because this will make them inactive. They must play sports and enjoy them. Sports help us in many positive ways .Some of them are:
Sports help us develop physical abilities like stamina and power which help us build a healthy life for ourselves. It also contributes towards a healthy physical growth. It also helps us stay positive as we feel a lot more relaxed after playing.
It helps us develop skills like planning, devising strategies and time management. Team spirit and decision making are the other important skills we learn while playing sports. We are constantly deciding and managing challenges while on a game. This helps us stay alert and active. These skills are very important and will help us live confidently , as we grow up.
Management of time is another way sports help us. We are currently investing a lot of our time in video games. Spending some of that time in physical sports can certainly help us grow into healthy, confident and happy adults.
Vibhav Bhagat, 6A
Riyush J , 6A
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