Objective
The objective of this article is to analyse the existing relationship between India’s economy and the mental health of its citizens. The central theme of this article is to throw light on the declining mental health of the young population and how India’s – though growing, but still cracked – economic state catalyses the same with special focus on the Interim Union Budget FY 2024-25.
Introduction
“Economics is the Science of human choices”, said Sir Lionel Robbins. Yet today, in a world where money is time, respect and the answer to almost all the questions, where capitalism is influencing lives of the smallest of all the living beings and humans can be seen rushing towards their want for more, somewhere, the mental health of the population is being compromised with. Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. According to WHO, the mental health of a person influences their ability to think, feel, interact, earn a living and enjoy life. A good mental state boosts an individual’s confidence, helps them overcome their issues, cope with stress, motivates them to take matters into their own hands and perform better each time. By having such a positive outlook towards life, an individual uplifts not only themselves but also the people around them. This also boosts the economy of the particular region. Despite having an economic angle attached to the popular social perspective, why is it that the mental health of citizens of India still goes unnoticed?
Even though it plays such an important role in one’s performance, the mental health of the citizens of India has reached a sensitive state, resulting in a countrywide mental health crisis.
Body
India, with a GDP of US $2.95 trillion, stands as the 5th largest economy in the world, yet its per capita income remains the lowest amongst all the G20 nations. How is it that even though the country’s economy is rising continuously on a global level, India’s internal state can be seen crumbling? The answer lies in Happiness Economics – an attempt to overcome certain shortcomings of the traditional utility theory by trying to measure utility/happiness derived by people from goods and services, activities or amenities that occur outside the market. The factors measured here include economic security, quality of work, leisure time, relationships, environment, freedom and control and more.
- Economic Security: fosters peace of mind and a sense of control over one’s life. It provides a buffer against unexpected financial hardships, reducing stress and anxiety. Research suggests that up to a certain income level, money can even contribute to happiness!
- Work-Life Balance: includes providing employees with family-friendly policies, longer paid vacations, shorter work weeks and so on in order to strike a balance between their personal and professional life.
- Freedom and Trust: a sense of well-being is also influenced by the freedom and trust they have in their country.
- Equality: when low in terms of income and high in terms of social interactions, help in gaining a sense of confidence in the citizens which in turn contributes to their satisfaction with life.
Europe, home to most of the countries on the 2023 Happiness Index list, is particularly engaged with Happiness Economics and provides its citizens a great level of social support and connection with nature along with the aforementioned requirements to make a country a happy one. Finland is regarded as the happiest country in the world whereas India still lies at 126th position out of 146 countries according to the World Happiness Report. But, Finland’s GDP is nowhere near India’s. Can money not buy happiness after all?
At present, every 7th person of the Indian population deals with some form of mental health issue. More than 1.7 lakh deaths – due to suicide – were recorded in India in 2022. Moreover, student suicide rates in India has doubled in the past year. Today, India ranks lower than its neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and China. The large income disparities, increasing unemployment, gender inequality, minimal expenditure on education and poor development of capital industries by the government have led to the decline in the mental health of the country with the youngest population in the world.
- Gender Inequality: Even though the percentage of females in the workforce seems to be increasing (41% in 2023), it remains concentrated in self-employed rural sectors rather than high salaried urban positions. This is probably due to the large output produced in the agricultural sector.
- Lack of Industrial Development: The primary sector contributes only 18-19% to India’s GDP but accounts for almost 50% of the workforce. Whereas, the secondary and tertiary sector together provide employment to 65.4% of the country’s population.
- Unemployment: Youth unemployment is still at 15.6% with higher rates in urban than rural areas. This is clearly due to a lack of skill development and job opportunities in the country. Even after this, the income taxes for the upper middle class has only increased and further widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
The above mentioned criteria are only a few of the many prevalent problems in the country. Apart from the ongoing economic upheaval, several social problems have also resulted in mental unrest of the current generation. Declined mental health does not only lead to poor performance at work/school, it also leads to indulgence in substances, violent acts and self-harm. With a crime rate of 445.9% as of 2024, India houses social unrest, protests and natural disasters as a part of every newspaper’s headlines. Such high crime rates are also a result of income inequality, unemployment, low GDP per capita, low literacy rate, etc. The country with the largest population in the world is only a medium developed country as per UNDP’s report on HDI. Another lesser known but actually more reliable survey is the Global Human Poverty Index. In contrast to HDI, this index measures the shortfall in human development including factors such as illiterate population, number of people who are denied access to clean drinking water, small underweight children and more. Though India’s poverty percentage has decreased in recent years, it is still home to the largest poor population, i.e., 234 million.
Government's Role
Imagine this, in a country of 1.5 billion people, if you earn a monthly income of Rs. 1 lakh, you’re in the top 1% of the population. 57% of India’s National Income (NI) is the income of the top 10% of the population. This is a testimony to the large income disparities prevailing in the country. Considering India’s large citizenry, one may say that the aforementioned population in numbers is actually huge. However, when placed in context to the total population and the lack of provision of basic amenities at reasonable costs, it is evident that this is a huge issue. Youth unemployment, though decreasing, is still common at 15.6%. Not only this, India is also the second country with the highest number of diabetic patients along with dangerously increasing cases of cancer and other non-communicable diseases, treatments of which cost lakhs and families rapidly get deprived of money. The pandemic proved to be a catalyst as houses of Tier-1 cities have experienced a 30-40% hike in rents post-pandemic rather than the usual 5-10%. This blend of unemployment, implying lack of income in households and skyrocketing costs of access to basic amenities like healthcare treatments, shelter, education and more has influenced the well-being of the population to a great extent.
Amidst all this, the central government has announced the budget for FY 2024-25. Every year, 2% of the budget is allocated to the Healthcare sector, out of which, approximately 1% is allocated to the Mental Healthcare sector. Mental Health in India is taken care of by 4 institutions, i.e., National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health in Tezpur, National Tele Mental Health Programme (Tele MANAS) and National Mental Health Programme (NMHP). The budget allocated to MoHFW is Rs 90,659 cr. Under this come NIMHANS, Tele MANAS and Lokpriya Institute of Mental Health out of which, NIMHANS gets the most significant amount. MoSJE received Rs 13,539 cr as grants under which, the National Welfare Programme for Persons with Disabilities looks after individuals with psychosocial impairments. This year, too, the government has not disclosed the allocation to NMHP. This indicates a clear centralisation of mental healthcare as the resources prove to be lesser than what is needed. A great initiative taken by the government is the establishment of Tele MANAS, which provides free tele-counselling to those who otherwise find it difficult to access the service. However, this is again underfunded, as the calls received keep increasing indicating a high demand for these services.
Conclusion
As mentioned before, the country’s economy is reaching great heights and the sky is the limit. We all are well into the end of 2024 and it has been nothing less than a rollercoaster of a year. At the end, the question still remains, how is it that even though the country’s economy is rising continuously on a global level, India’s internal state can be seen crumbling? By now, we must know that it’s not solely the income of a person which guarantees happiness, it’s more and so is the economy of a particular region. As we reflect upon the heights that India has achieved, as citizens, we must also reflect on the various heart-wrenching news that we have come across. Headlines ranging from the Manipur crisis and R.G. Kar Medical College’s rape case to increasing student suicides at education institutes like NLU Delhi are a testimony to how we have failed numerous young and passionate minds from time to time. To reap the gains of its demographic dividend, India must focus on the declining mental health of its population. But with the present income disparity, gender gap, low literacy rate and other such factors, we cannot move further. As the societal outlook changes towards the idea of mental health, there’s a strong need for enthusiastic participation by the government by bringing reforms in the aforementioned aspects and focusing on providing better mental healthcare facilities. Apart from a better expenditure plan, there is also a need to implement all the policies and schemes to ensure smooth functioning of the initiatives taken by the government. India’s economy is on the path to touch the sky with glory, but the question which remains is that can India’s economic prosperity be celebrated when her people are devoid of the very feeling of happiness?