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are hindu more happier than muslims in india ? comparative case study
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Submitted By Harsh Roll no. 176 Semester-I, Section- C B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) Submitted To Prof. Priyanka Tomar Economics
Introduction The study of happiness economics started mostly in the 1990s.^1 Before that Psychology did have a method of studying happiness, which was questionnaires having questions like “how happy (satisfied) are you with your life?”^2 This method was adopted in economics too. Some of the findings using these types of data have not been surprising for example that “married, healthy and employed individuals are happier than unmarried, unhealthy and unemployed individuals.”^3 However, some of the findings have been shocking especially to economists such as the weak relationship between being rich and happy. Another shock to the economists who believed that being richer equated to being happier was the “Easterlin paradox”, which says that although being rich correlates to being happier up to a certain point but after that increase in wealth do not correspond to more happiness. In fact, studies have shown that the materialistic benefits that you get from being richer contribute lesser to your happiness than the access that you get from being rich which gets you jobs and employment. Whether “utility”, a term which is used in economic calculations like that of Total Utility, Marginal utility etc. is same as happiness is yet another debate. One side believes that utility, happiness and satisfaction are synonymous whereas the other believes that they are distinctly different. (^1) Richard A. Easterlin, The Economics of Happiness , 133 DAEDALUS 26 (2004). (^2) Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Happiness Economics , 4 SERIES 35 (2013). (^3) Najmeh Maharlouei et al., Subjective Health and Happiness in the United States: Gender Differences in the Effects of Socioeconomic Status Indicators , 4 J MENT HEALTH CLIN PSYCHOL 8 (2020).
As is evident from the findings of the Sachar committee report, the proportion of participation of Muslims as salaried workers in Government, Public and Large Private Sector jobs is even lesser than SCs and STs who have been identified as socially and economically backward communities and thus been given advantages like affirmative action by the Government. Even the proportion of Muslims in government related employment is abysmal. Another criterion that can be used for income is Bank Credit. The average amount lent per account to Muslims is about half that of other Minorities, and
one-third of “others”. This results in financial exclusion and thus negatively impacts income. The second factor taken by the Happiness Index is health. The Sachar Committee report compares the percentage of children who are underweight, stunted and have low birth weight. Once again, it can be concluded from the graphs that health conditions both in general and in comparison, is concerning for the Muslim Community. The third quantifiable factor that different definitions of happiness include is education. Education enables you to take up meaningful life decisions, gives you choice in terms of employment and increases overall wellbeing. Even the happiness report 2023 “mentions having a sense of freedom to make key life decisions” as key factor in determing happiness. The Census measures literacy rates in terms of the percentage of persons aged 7 years and above, who can read and write. Despite its inadequacies, literacy remains the most easily understood and widely used indicator of educational achievement. According to 2001 Census and the Sachar Committee Report, “the literacy rate among Muslims in 2001 was 59.1 % which is far below the national average (65.1 %).”
Conclusion The conclusion of the case study is that the initial question “Are Hindus happier than Muslims in India?” maybe answered in the affirmative as we have compared both the communities on the basis of factors of determining happiness taken from the World Happiness Report 2023 and also other definition of happiness which included education and literacy on the basis of the Sachar Committee Report,2005, Census 2001 and the National Sample Survey Office’s 61st^ round report.
