Chandan Sharma*
New Delhi (The Hawk) : The recent hectic Europe visit of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was just an extempore visit to the EU nations as the continent is facing a kind of transition after outbreak of pandemic and conflict between Russia and Ukraine! Diplomacy is actually a multilayered and multi-staged tool that works in several directions in the given time. Critics of Modi say that the Prime Minister is actually actively looking for “The pursuit of happinesss” in the fast changing global arena amid post pandemic developments and Eurasian conflict, that posed several new and bigger challenges for many nations including India.
The critics may not be true in their assessments but it is a fact that these European countries are known as the happiest nations in Happiness index as well as the Human Development Index (HDI) and always positioned themselves among top 10-15 nations. It is notable that Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are known as Nordic nations and all these nations have been among 1 to 10 in HDI due to their prosperity, lesser population, systematic, corruption free and pragmatic approach. India although, achieved a lot but as far as HDI is concerned, its rank always comes after 130 in the 149 nations’ Happiness index as well as even larger Human Development Index. Detailed brainstorming sessions are needed to divulge the reasons for it but this fact is important here as Afghanistan is the 149 th nation in the Happiness index and India is 136 th nation. Why all the efforts could not put the nation in under 50 or even under 100 in the index, needs an answer from the policymakers. Even several smaller Asian nations are performing better in the index! Here it must be noted that these Nordic nations have almost enjoyed a kind of immunity during the pandemic.Moreover, these nations have also not much affected by the recent outbreak of Eurasian conflict between Russia and Ukraine. However, the region of conflict is not far away from these nations.
Here, it is an interesting fact that some of the Nordic nations are still not joined EU but all the Nordic nations extended their support to Ukraine and asked PM Modi to use his influence to stop the war. These nations may be tiny in their population but known as champions of climate change and climate action as these nations have been among those, who have been affected the most from the temperature rise and impact of climate changes. Greenland and Iceland are among those nations, facing rapid ice melting and frequent rains, despite being in Arctic region. Agriculture is a difficult option here, so the food production. However, sea food and fishing are better livelihood option in these nations. But despite all these difficulties these nations are champions of Happiness index, posing a big challenge for other nations, trying to grab better position in the index.
*The author has been associated with DU as visiting faculty.