The Fully Functioning Person: Can Socio — Economic Background Influence Conversations About Well-Being? [Indian Context]
With the Middle-Class Boom in India [earning above 5 lakhs per annum] 55% [Financial Express, 2021] of the population will grow up experiencing or is projected to experience upward economic mobility by 2025. Adjacent to these positive projections, this transformational challenge also indicates an increased vulnerability to burn outs, as we globally have witnessed a decrease in collective well — being during the pandemic years.
While India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, paradoxically it is also one of the most unequal; With the top 10% of the population holding 77% of the total national wealth [Oxfam,2022].
Consider the start-ups that grow too quick too soon and eventually go bust. So while the rich get richer and poor get poorer, let’s not overlook the middle.
Colonization and Well-Being
Our understanding of well-being is evolving. If you asked the question, ‘What is well-being?’ you may receive a spectrum of answers. This definition is influenced by culture, our geographical location, our personal values and lived experiences.
Looking back to our roots in Ancient India, the notion of well-being has always been deeply interwoven within our spiritual frameworks. A focus on the quality of life, different aspects of human existence and living within nature can be traced back to 3000 BC. It’s fair to look at our lifestyles now wonder what happened along the way?
India gained independence from Britain in August, 1947. As part of the British colonial legacy in India, lasting institutions, universities, political and administrative agencies were set up throughout the country. Lord Macaulay, the man who brought the English language and British education to India, is often attributed with this quote,
“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and color, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.”
Impact
With the introduction of western culture in the 19th century, what was it’s extent of impact upon Indian mental models? What are the direct and indirect long term consequences of colonialism? In 2022, India’s rank in the Global Sustainable Development Report slipped to 121 out of 163 countries. Facing a major challenge in Goal 3 [ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages], India ranked 139 out of 149 countries in the Annual World Happiness Report 2021, making it the fourth least happy country in the world.
While India’s colonial past and low SDG rankings are not overtly co-related, it is imperative to consider the underlying causes when being presented with these numbers. Escpecially when being compared to developed nations who often hold the top 5 positions.
Profit Over Prosperity?
As we acknowledge the perils of neoliberalism, the ineffectiveness 6-day work weeks and move towards a decentralised sytem of knowledge distribution, our relationship towards employment is changing from previous generations. But who holds the power? Mumbai is ranked 91 and Delhi is 95 out of 100 cities in the Sustainable Cities Index, 2022 [Arcadis]. There is no doubt that income inequality and work-life balance are inseparable. The less wealthy you are, the harder you have to work. [Think of the backlash over Kim Kardashian’s advice for women in business]. With access to one of the largest and youngest workforces and an 8.3% urban unemployment rate [CMIE, 2023], do organizations in India feel compelled to actively view their workers with an alternate lens?
Conclusion
When it comes to well-being, ‘Can systemic inequality be reframed as individual pathology?’ It is similar to surrounding a person’s immediate environment with unhealthy ready-to-eat snacks and asking them to go home and consume a salad from the back of the fridge. It is possible, but it is not the most efficient or human — centred solution.
The silver lining is that during the pandemic, we, as a society, were forced to hit pause, gain distance and understand these environments objectively. By staying indoors for two years, we had the opportunity to really reflect and question the 24/7 ‘hustle’ culture and the learned instinct for endless growth. COVID-19 catalyzed conversations about mental health to inform trends like the great resignation, quiet quitting, radical rest. In the future, as India’s economy positively transforms itself, what if profit and well — being were equal stakeholders? What if we reimagined the world with well-being at its center?
