Chouhan had announced creation of the department during the state BJP’s executive meet in Bhopal on April 1 this year. The government studied parameters adopted by the United Nations – which put happiness on the global development agenda in 2011, besides the US’ and Bhutan’s for measuring the happiness index of society.

Bhutan’s concept of gross national happiness has four pillars for a healthy index. They are good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, cultural preservation and environmental conservation. It is based on nine parameters including psychological wellbeing, health, education, living standards and cultural diversity. Chouhan, however, has a tough job at hand given the fact that social indicators in the state are not very encouraging.

Official data show that since 2001, nearly 19,000 farmers have committed suicide, most of them due to economic reasons. Statistics released in June have also put MP on top in infant mortality rate among all states with 52 deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births. 42.8 per cent of the children under five years are underweight, according to an official survey. The maternal mortality ratio of 221 – mothers dying after giving birth – is also way too high than the national average of 167 per 1,00,000 live births. The crime rate including atrocity on women too has shown a marked rise in recent years.

Chouhan, who is likely to keep the department with him for the time being, said specialists will be invited to give suggestions on programmes to be taken up by the government which has earmarked an annual budget of Rs 3.80 crore. In the initial stage Chief Minister himself will handle this department. According to the administrative structure approved by the cabinet, the department will be headed by a person which may not be a government servant. He will draw a salary of Rs. 1,50,000 per month. Then there will be a Chief Executive officer whose status will be at par with the secretary of the state government. The other office bearers will be Director Research, Director Coordination, Auditor Research Assistant, Six Junior Research Assistants and five peons. The Happiness Department may ultimately take the shape of a NGO. It will be registered with the Registrar of Firms and Society.

The Chief Minister proposed to constitute a committee which will be asked to give suggestions for the final shape to the department. The government proposed to include among other Jaggi Vasudev of Isa Foundation, Baba Ramdev, Awdhesanand and Sri Sri Ravishanker. Ultimately this committee will have 11 members.

Nearly one third of the state’s population is poor. This is one unhappy factor as it keeps MP among the poorest states in the country, as per the figures quoted by the Suresh Tendulkar Methodology and the Rangarajan panel report. The Tendulkar Methodology identifies 31.6 per cent of the state’s population (around 2.3 crore out of 7.27 crore) poor based on the 2011 census. The Rangarajan panel report of 2014 says the state has 44.3 per cent poor (nearly 3.2 crore people out of 7.27 crore) — about 45.2 per cent in the rural areas and 42.1 per cent in the urban areas. Experts say this clearly shows that a huge section of people is still struggling for two square meals.

Food security activist Sachin Jain says that even the state government’s 2013 figures show that there are 7.7 million poor households in the state. “This shows that over one third of MP is poor despite rich resources. I think somewhere down the line, the economic model adopted by us has increased the gulf between the poor and the rich. If people are enabled to tap their rich resources, they will become prosperous and happy in real terms.”
Unhappy Farmers

There have been about 18,687 farmer suicides in MP during the past 15 years, according to the State Crime Records Bureau. The farmers have apparently been unhappy with regular crop losses due to weather vagaries and a thick-skinned government approach to bail them out.

Social activist Anurag Modi says the fact that the state government had to create a happiness department means people are not happy here. “Otherwise, you don’t need to create it. The fact is that you can’t make farmers happy with happiness department and smart city projects. You have to make farming profitable and happy experience for them. The government has to strengthen the village economy, otherwise unhappy farmers will keep committing suicides ”, he says.

The state remains most unsafe for women in India with over 5000 rape cases reported annually. According to the 2014 NCRB figures, the state tops the country’s rape list. Women activist Rolly Shivhare says that by creating a happiness department government officials will be happy, not women in the state. Malnutrition continues to claim and maim young lives in the state. According to health indicators released recently by the National Family Health Survey, about 42 per cent of the children under five years in the state are stunted.

Though Bhopal gas tragedy occurred in December 1984, but, the world’s worst industrial disaster is a continuing tragedy for the affected families. Over 5 lakh people were maimed in varying degrees and roughly 15,000 people were killed. Even after over three decades, toxic waste lying on the premises of the Union Carbide Plant here continues to contaminate the ground water, according to gas activists. Affected people are still battling with the aftermath of the tragedy. They will continue to remain unhappy. (IPA Service)