If money makes people happy what about black money?

Is happiness directly linked with accumulation of wealth, asks Prof Sumit Mishra. India was ranked a lowly 122 out of 155 countries in the World Happiness Index, below Pakistan and China. 'Pursuit of happiness' is written into the Declaration of Independence of the US but we Indians have no such promise from our leaders. Yet when ranked for optimism India came second with a score of 73%, just behind China with 74%. USA came 13th with just 6%, Finland and Denmark, which were near the top in happiness, were 9 and 10 in optimism. Why? Is it because when you are happy you are afraid of unexpected tragedies in the future while if you have nothing you have nothing to lose and so can dream of better things to come? One paper from Harvard showed that "reported happiness monotonically increases with income, and decreases during economic shocks such as a recession". Which means the richer you are the happier you will be. The paper also showed that "happiness is strongly correlated to GDP across countries, and that these effects are persistent over time". Rich countries are happier than poor ones. Stevenson and Wolfers found,"The relationship between well-being and income is roughly linear-log and does not diminish as incomes rise. If there is a satiation point, we are yet to reach it." A billionaire is happier than a millionaire. However, Easterlin makes the point that China is less happy than it was in 1990. Uma Shashikant wrote that money cannot buy you happiness, but lack of money makes you miserable. She recommends charity to give a sense of fulfillment. In India, the poor are much more generous than the rich, wrote Prof Dipankar Gupta. The poor have friends, while the rich have sycophants. A survey in Britain found that religious people are much more contented but other factors, such as age, were also important. On the other hand, the civil wars in Syria and Iraq, causing untold misery, are between two branches of the same religion. "I'll keep saving people as long as I'm alive.....saving lives has become my religion," said Rajendra Sahni after pulling people out of the Ganga in darkness after a boat capsized. He is happy indeed. However, economics still matters. There are nearly half a million illegal immigrants from India in the US, attracted by its wealth, and Indians obtain visas to Schengen countries to enter the UK illegally, called "donkey flights". At least one million men from Tamil Nadu are working abroad, leaving their wives to bring up their children alone. There must be millions more from other states. In conclusion, many things combine to make us happy but "at least for the developing world, lies in the pursuit of wealth and material well being..." That explains why Indians love black money. Makes them happy.