Claim: The surest indicator of a great nation must be the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists.Reason: The surest indicator of a great nation is actually welfare of people.

A nation, a complex whole, whose indication of success depends upon various factors like availability of infrastructure, imports, exports, Gross Domestic Product, per capita income etc., so it is a web of factors that casts impact on one another and provides an exact parameter to determine the growth and development rate of a country. In this regard, we can never rely by considering a single component while each and every individual's well-being should be assessed rather than focusing on the elite class of society only. Since the actions or procedures adopted by government casts its impact on whole set of population, the broader and immaculate picture be attained by covering the complete society as a whole.

I firmly believe that welfare of denizens provide us a better picture rather than attainment level of elite class-comprising of rulers, artists or scientists; of course, only having accomplishments of artists, rulers, or scientists cannot suffice to prove the greatness of a nation. The policies-procedures, budget etc framed by the government has its implication on every strata whether rich-poor, male-female and thus a good set of rules is one that enhances the standard of living of people. Consider a scenario, although India has many Nobel Laureates like Amartya Sen, Rabindra Nath Tagore; emminent rulers like - Akbar-the great, Mahatama Gandhi; proficient artists like Amrita Pritam, M.F.Hussain, A.R.Rehman etc. still India is in blooming state of development-facing the problems in every phase of society- on economic basis-poverty, unemployment, on social basis-casteism, religionism etc , on political basis-terrorism, corruption etc. In a way each and every perspective is in crucial stage. Assessing this situation, in spite of having great chunk of socialite population, India is facing tremendous problem and thus can't be termed as a great nation; as the citizens need welfare in terms of a decent income, security, and law to be able to pursue their happiness and their dreams. In a nutshell, the indicator of a nations' prestige can't be a few selected members of community but the larger strata comprising of common people.

Contrary to this, we should not ignore the contribution of the rulers, poets, scientists to the nation’s greatness. A great nation is the result of its great people. Consider Nelson Mandela, an ultimate ruler who fought against Apartheid lead South Africa towards the process of growth. Similarly, James Watt was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world and thus enhancing the motive of welfare state for its nation. Also, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen in her writings put forward the problems faced by the women of her society, earned international acclaim and thus, took steps forward to ameliorate the conditions prevalent ensuring the objective of citizens' welfare. Thus, such iconoclasts determine the path of nation's well-being and their contribution provides ample information about how the nation is progressing or deteriorating day by day.

The welfare of people and achievements of rulers, artists, or scientists are not mutually exclusive. Actually, they promote each other. For example, if a nation has a good welfare for its people, creation and innovation will be stimulated and more achievements will be completed. That is why developed countries have more artists and scientists than others. On the other hand, achievements in art and science will accelerate the development of economy so that welfare of people will be more satisfying. In short, solely relying on factors such as people’s welfare or the accomplishments of rulers, artists and scientists cannot stand for the greatness of a nation. A combination many factors are needed to name a nation great, including observation of human right.