Bringing GNH home...
GNH is synonymous with Bhutan. So it’s important for us to participate in and contribute to the growing international knowledge base on GNH. Still, I was a little concerned when, recently, our prime minister personally led a 24-member delegation to a GNH conference in Brazil. After all, it had been barely 10 weeks since he had visited Japan to tell them about GNH.
Like some, I felt that the PM should have been in attendance when the nation’s highest legislative body was in session. Like others, I believed that he should have stayed behind to help victims of the recent calamities rebuild their lives. And, like a few others, I felt that while hitting the lecture circuit may be important, especially when GNH is in the spotlight, our head of government would find ample time and opportunity to do after he leaves office.
As it turns out, it was a good thing that our prime minister attended the Brazil conference! The visit, it appears, taught him one important lesson: that GNH is not exactly thriving in its birthplace. Yesterday, upon his arrival back home, he told the media that Bhutan was “falling behind” in the implementation of GNH. Today, he reported to the National Assembly that in parts of Brazil he saw GNH at work – individuals, NGOs, universities, private businesses, and local governments, we were told, had all made it their business to promote gross national happiness. And, he excitedly told lawmakers of immediate plans to operationalise GNH.
Very good. Our government now understands what the common man has long known: namely that, to increase happiness levels, we need is less talk and more action.
Talk about happiness, however convincing, will not make emerging problems like poverty, malnutrition, unemployment, income disparity, crime, corruption, drug abuse, domestic violence, child labour, and garbage go away. Only hard work will do so.
Otherwise, Bhutan and GNH may quickly become a contradiction in terms.
Photo credit: Kuensel







