Dukhi (Unhappy) India drops further on World Happiness Index

India is among the world’s least happy nations, and became even less happy in the last year. India ranked at 122 out of 155 countries in the World Happiness Report 2017, four notches below its previous rank of 118.  
 India was behind the majority of South Asian nations, apart from war-ravaged Afghanistan, that stood at 141. Among the eight South Asia  nations, Pakistan was at 80th position, Nepal stood at 99, Bhutan at 97, Bangladesh at 110 while Sri Lanka was at 120. However, Maldives did not figure in the World Happiness Report.

After ranking fourth for the last two years, Norway emerged at the top, displacing three-time topper Denmark for the first time. Denmark dropped to second place, followed by Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands.

The bottom five countries on the list where people are the unhappiest are Burundi (154), Tanzania (153), Syria (152), Rwanda (151) and the Central African Republic (155).

Studying happiness may seem frivolous, but serious academics have long been calling for more testing about people’s emotional well-being, The entire top ten were wealthier developed nations. Yet money is not the only ingredient in the recipe for happiness, the report said.

In fact, among the wealthier countries the differences in happiness levels had a lot to do with “differences in mental health, physical health and personal relationships: the biggest single source of misery is mental illness. Income differences matter more in poorer countries, but even their mental illness is a major source of misery,”  the report said.

The happiness rankings are based on six factors: GDP per capita, healthy years of life expectancy, social support (as measured by having someone to count on in times of trouble), trust (as measured by a perceived absence of corruption in government and business), perceived freedom to make life decisions, and generosity (as measured by recent donations). 

The United States meanwhile slipped to the number 14 spot due to less social support and greater corruption; those very factors play into why Nordic countries fare better on this scale of smiles. China, making  major economic strides in recent years, but its people are not happier than 25 years ago, it found.

INDIA Aims For World Record With 100+ Satellite Launches In One Go.

“We are making a century by launching over 100 satellites at one go,”  said  the, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

 If successful, India will set a world record as the first country to launch the most satellites in one go and leave behind Russia, which launched 39 satellites in a single mission in June 2014.

The space agency had earlier planned a launch of 83 satellites in the last week of January, of which 80 were foreign ones. But with the addition of 20 more foreign satellites, the launch was delayed by a week and will now take place in first week of February.

As India looks to grab a larger slice of the lucrative commercial space market,   this step will be a significant milestone. Launching several satellites at one go reduces cost and India has been trying to position itself as a key player as an effective but low-cost operator.

In June,2016, India set a national record after it successfully launched a rocket carrying 20 satellites, including 13 from the US.

In May, it successfully launched its first mini space shuttle as it joined the global race to make reusable rockets.

It sent an unmanned rocket to orbit Mars in 2013 at a cost of just $73 million, compared with NASA's Maven Mars mission which had a $671 million price tag.

India  is also mulling the idea of missions to Jupiter and Venus, according to PTI.

India jumped up 16 positions on a global index of the world's most competitive economies

In a big jump, India has moved up 16 positions to rank 39th on a global index of the world's most competitive economies. The report  showed that India fared well in goods market efficiency, business sophistication and innovation

India’s competitiveness improved across the board, particularly in goods market efficiency (60), business sophistication (35) and innovation (29). WEF said recent reform efforts by the government have concentrated on improving public institutions (up 16 places), opening the economy to foreign investors and international trade (up 4), and increasing transparency in the financial system (up 15).

India still needs to cover a lot of ground, the WEF said, citing labour market deficiencies, large, public enterprises that reduce economic efficiency, especially in the utilities sector and the financial market. Lack of infrastructure remains a critical bottleneck, the report said.