Dear Editor,
Apropos the article, “India and World Happiness Index 2018” (State Times, March 23, 2018) by Dr Ravinder Singh Rana, Nordic countries are among the top ten happiest countries of the world in spite of their cold weather conditions.
According to global happiness ranking 2017, Norway gets the top position, Denmark is at the second position, followed by Iceland at number 3, Finland at number 5 and Sweden at number 10!
Indeed, these countries have given top priority to human development. Norway has been holding the number one rank in Human Development Index for a long time. Other Nordic countries are also enjoying high position in HDI.
As a matter of fact, education including higher education is free in all the Nordic countries. Even international students are not charged tuition fees in those countries. Every citizen of these countries gets social security and an unemployed person gets handsome allowance from the state.
Moreover, Nordic countries have high levels of female representation in their parliaments. The average is as high as 40 per cent which is the highest in the world. These countries are secular. They are religion neutral as well as gender neutral where daddies get parental leave.
It has been reported that in Norway fines for drunk driving are calculated according to defendant’s income. This system of fining on the basis of one’s income is right and just like its direct tax regime where one is to pay tax according to one’s income.
Indirect tax regime like ours is not people friendly as here even a beggar has to pay equal and the same amount of indirect tax with his creamy counterparts when he is to buy anything from salt to slippers and from food to medicine.
Norway and other Nordic countries have shown that to make people happy; laws, taxation and development should entirely be human centric in the best way possible. We must get our priorities right. It must be the masses and not Mars!
Sujit De,
Kolkata
