SOS Call to Save Our Souls

Yoga and mindfulness to the rescue

- Smt. Sujatha Rao

These days we keep getting badgered with negative news day-in-and-day-out. This incessant onslaught leads to our thinking that we are living in the worst of times in the history of humankind.

But is it really true? Let's look at some significant statistics of the times we are living in.

• In the last twenty years, the proportion of the global population living in extreme poverty has reduced by half. A majority of the world population today lives in middle income countries.

• Life expectancy of the world is around 70 years at present, an increase of more than a decade from 50 years ago.

• Around 90% of the world population today has some access to electricity.

• Over the last 100 years, deaths per year from natural disasters decreased to less than half.

Each of the above represents a quantum leap kind of positive development across the world. By these counts, our world should definitely be a happier place today. But contrary to that expectation, the world today seems to be a very unhappy place, going by the fact that around 11% of the global population was suffering from some kind of mental ailment per the Global Burden of Disease Study, 2017. Per the same study, one in seven Indians was affected by mental disorders of varying severity. A Lancet study highlights that India's contribution to global suicide deaths increased from 25.3% in 1990 to 36.6% in 2016 among women, and from 18.7% to 24.3% among men.

Why are these two statistics of our times so contradictory?