Happy Thoughts: Some of the Indian intellectuals at the just concluded seminar

The first ever seminar between Bhutan and India on GNH concluded on March 12, with participants from both sides acknowledging the need for more discussion and study for the development philosophy to be successfully implemented.

Dasho Karma Ura, the president for the centre for Bhutan studies (CBS), said that the “rich dialogue” had “enriched” the understanding of GNH for both Bhutanese and Indian participants. The seminar saw, what a CBS press release described as, “influential minds in India” talking to Bhutanese counterparts on various topics related to GNH. The Indian delegation included young politicians, sociologists, environmentalists, conservationists, and health activists.

“GNH offers potential that needs to be unlocked,” said Peter DeSouza, director for the institute of advanced studies in India. He added that GNH is relevant today, as it offered a framework within which the ideas contained offered a counter discourse to the western development model.

“GNH shows how Bhutan thinks ahead of time, it’s an evolved state of thinking, a brilliant concept,” said Koustubh Sharma (PhD), a regional field biologist with snow leopard trust, the largest organisation concerned with the conservation of the endangered snow leopard. He said that India is now suffering the consequences of a fast paced development policy based on the western model.

Koustubh Sharma said the dialogue on GNH showed that it did not exist to hide Bhutan’s underdevelopment as skeptics might observe. But he added that some aspects have to be addressed, such as ensuring minor details, such as the needs of specific groups of people are not undermined, when using only one value to express the people’s happiness and development.

“A pivotal issue is whether GNH offers an alternative framework for evaluation of policy or a state imposed prescription,” said Akhil Sibal, a lawyer. “I’m definitely convinced that GNH is really a more of a useful prism through which to look at policy rather than a dogma to be imposed.” He added, “It’s an ideal worth working towards, to apply not only within Bhutan but abroad.”

“Ideas and ideologies keep evolving so it’s never sufficient, but for now, yes,” said Latika Dikshit, a social development consultant on whether the seminar had provided a thorough understanding of GNH. On whether GNH is too Utopian, she said, “All dreams start off Utopian, it’s the path that leads to it that has to be realistic.” Latika Dikshit said she hoped she would be invited again for another dialogue on GNH.

Comments were also made that perhaps GNH needed to be modernised to include younger generations.

Dasho Karma Ura said Bhutan could certainly do with more discourses on GNH and that the dialogue would be continued in India in August this year. He also added that more discussion on GNH is needed among Bhutanese, particularly one that includes all three branches of the government and private sector.

The seminar was jointly organised by CBS and Malvika Singh, the owner and publisher of Seminar magazine in India. Source: Kuenselonline