Humans becoming economic entity: Bhutan PM

Bhubaneswar: Observing that people had become less of human being and more of economic entity, Bhutan Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley today said it has been necessary to pull the society out of market forces to achieve happiness.

"We have become less of human being, and more of economic entity. We need to reclaim our society from the market forces," Thinley said while gracing the 8th Annual Convocation of KIIT University here as chief guest.

Happiness comes from balancing needs of the body with those of mind and it thrives only when people around are also happy, said Thinley, who has won world appreciation for proposing Gross National Happiness (GNH) as an alternative development paradigm and advocating its inclusion as the ninth MDG (millennium development goal).

Obsession with growth has brought our environment and civilisation to the brink, the Bhutanese Prime Minister said, while emphasising that the world is in need of change. He was also conferred the Degree of D Litt, Honoris Causa.

Offering a new perspective of life - pursuit of happiness - he advised the students to serve the society and exhorted them to make a beginning by serving their parents and protecting the institution of marriage.

The recipients of Honorary Degrees are ? Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Minister of Education of Afghanistan (D Litt), Dr Kee Sun Ham, President of Hanseo University in South Korea (D Sc) and Prof Baidyanath Mishra, Economist of Bhubaneswar.

Altogether 2,216 graduates were awarded graduate and postgraduate degrees in various disciplines.