Measuring happiness

What is happiness and can it be measured? These questions, particularly the former, have perplexed philosophers and thinkers for over two millennia. Now the government intends to find out, by setting up a happiness, or well being index, premised on the idea that money is not all there is to happiness.

That happiness is not solely about money cannot be denied. There are, indeed, plenty of stories about extremely rich people lacking peace of mind and contentment. But neither can it be denied that there is a marginal point beyond which money does matter and the rather middle class pre-occupation with finding happiness beyond money becomes irrelevant. That point is certainly reached if you are jobless, struggling to keep a roof over your head and have to think hard about which necessities of life to prioritise.

To suggest to a person in such a situation, and there are many and indeed will be many more when the government's cuts begin to bite, that happiness is not about money but about beauty, aesthetic appreciation, etc, is plainly cruel.

Iqbal

Yesterday was the birthday of Allama Mohammed Iqbal, the great poet and philosopher. Iqbal is much admired and respected in Pakistan, considered by many as the intellectual force behind the idea of Pakistan. Iqbal was an intellectual giant, a free thinker, indeed an innovator.

For Iqbal, khudi, or the cultivated self, was central. This 'self' should not be confused with selfishness. Khudi is about the cultivation of the spiritual and moral self, such that Iqbal says:

Elevate your khudi to such heights that before every decree,
God Himself asks you: "Tell me, what is your wish?"

It is difficult not to note the German influence on Iqbal, particularly about his ideas on the spiritual self and its role in history.

Thinkers of Iqbal's calibre are much needed today in Pakistan, though one wonders how much they would be appreciated. One also wonders to what extent it is that the real Iqbal, Iqbal the philosopher and free thinker, indeed the sceptic, is currently respected and appreciated, rather than the mythical Iqbal?

Tuition fees

The sharp rise in tuition fees announced this month is grim news. A barrier, probably an insurmountable one for many families on decent salaries, has been erected towards meeting aspirations. For once it seems as if the children of people who graduated in the late 1980s, through the 1990s and parts of this decade, will be worse off than their parents. It can only be a backward step if the succeeding generation is worse off than the preceding one.

There is, of course, no law of development: progress is not inevitable. But some things are in our control, including policy on access to higher education. Such access is probably the most important motor for social mobility. The current changes in fees have added the brakes.

English test for immigrants

Later this month, immigrants wanting to come into the UK will need to pass an English language test before entering the country. The test itself will be a fairly basic spoken test, requiring no more than 40-50 hours of tuition. There will be no test of reading and writing.

Most affected will be spouses coming over from South Asia. It is a fair bet that places like Mirpur will see the rise of tuition centres aimed specifically at grooming people to pass the test. The test will, of course, cost money (to be paid by the visa applicant), and where money is involved, foul play is not far off. Unless the administration of the test is micro-managed in all affected countries from London, ways will be adapted of passing applicants who are willing to pay an additional 'fee'.

The illiberal measure will no doubt inconvenience many genuine cases, but few can doubt that a good command of English is pretty useful when living in England! A more liberal approach would be to fund language classes in England.

In reality, the rationale for the measure is to discourage immigration, particulary by marriage, from certain countries. Such marriages cannot be banned obviously, but measures such as the language test, by erecting an additional barrier, are intended to influence and change cultural practices. Ultimately, cultural practices will change; not because of measures like this, but because young people are themselves demanding more control of their lives.

Whither humanity?

There is no dearth of stories with a moral angle to emerge from Pakistan. Take this one, from BBC South Asia, describing how an Ahmadi family was forced to re-bury a relative because he was buried in a Muslim graveyard.

Ahmadis have had a raw deal in Pakistan. They were prominent in the Pakistan movement and in Jinnah's Muslim League, at a time when the predecessors of some of today's religious parties were opposed to the idea of a separate homeland for Muslims.

But in a country where reality is mobius-strip like, where foul is fair and untruth is truth, such historical inconveniences do not matter.