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| Another Indian sadhu: He's happy,
sure, but is he productive? |
| Indians may be hungry,
but they are happy. They may be ill, but they've found God.
In short, goes the argument, they're as self-actualised as can
be. The pity is, the UNDP couldn't be less bothered about self-actualisation. |
The
honourable Murli Manohar Joshi, India's Human Resources Development
Minister is angry. He is angry that India figures 124th out of 173
countries in the United Nation Development Programme's (UNDP) annual
Human Development Report.
He is angry that the difference between India
and some of its sub-continental neighbours isn't as high as he thinks
it should be: Pakistan is at 138; Bangladesh, 145.
And he is angry that UNDP's Human Development
Index doesn't factor in spiritual and intellectual development.
''The collective state of happiness of a nation should also be considered
by the UN(DP),'' he was reported as having said after being presented
a copy of the report.
Surely, Dr Joshi, a qualified teacher of Physics and the possessor
of a doctoral degree-unlike the degrees of other politicos this
one was won, not awarded-from Allahabad U, has heard of Maslow.
For the benefit of those readers who don't have a clue about Mr
M, Abraham Maslow, who died in 1970, is a psychologist best known
for his theory on the hierarchy of needs. First propounded in 1954,
the hierarchy still forms the basis of organisational policies targeted
at motivating employees.
Often pictured as a pyramid, the hierarchy starts
with lower order physiological needs related to food, water, and
shelter, moves through the need for security to social needs (love,
affection, and belongingness, Maslow termed them) to esteem needs-the
need for self-respect and respect from others-and finally, to the
need for self-actualisation.
Less well-known, but no less important than
the hierarchy of needs is Maslow's hierarchy of information: information
on where to get food or how to get better if ill at the bottom of
the pyramid, to information that can lead to moral and spiritual
fulfillment at the top.
Indians, or at least the bulk of them, going
by Dr Joshi's outburst, are at the top of Maslow's pyramid. They
may be hungry, but they are happy. They may be ill, but they've
found God. They may be unemployed, but they have enough spiritual
wealth to spare. In short, they're as self-actualised as can be.
The pity is, the UNDP couldn't be less bothered about self-actualisation.
The equality, or inequality of the two sexes, and between the rich
and the poor, the distribution of wealth, physical well-being, and
education-these are some of the hard parameters that go into the
Human Development Index.
Joshi's argument reflects a uniquely Indian
paradox. The Indian ethos has traditionally been skewed towards
higher-order Maslowian variables such as an exaggerated sense of
self-worth and a high degree of spirituality-to the exclusion of
lower-order needs in some cases. Worse still, they can come in the
way of progress, and, in the Indian example, often have. You can't
eat self-esteem and self-actualisation. Nor can you wear democracy.
Surely, Dr Joshi realises that.
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