Madhya Pradesh Signs MoU with IIT-Kharagpur for Developing Happiness Index

IIT Kharagpur’s Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness and Madhya Pradesh government’s ‘Rajya Anandam Sansthan’ (Department of Happiness) has signed an MoU to collaborate on the development of a Happiness Index for measuring the well-being of the residents of the state. The MoU was signed in the presence of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and IIT-KGP Director Prof P P Chakrabarti at Bhopal.

Salient Highlights

The Happiness index would be developed by IIT-KGP and the data collected by the state government would be analysed to assess the happiness levels of people of the state and to suggest recommendations to enhance happiness levels in the state.
IIT-Kharagpur will also develop an online screening and assessment system to suitably identify the volunteers from more than 30,000 people who have expressed their desire to be part of the collaborative effort.
In addition, IIT-KGP will also develop online courses on happiness with the help of evaluation system available at its Center for Educational Technology.

 Background

India has been ranked at 122 out of 155 countries in the 2017 United Nations’s World Happiness Index (WHI). Among the 8 SAARC nations, Pakistan is at 80th position, Nepal stood at 99, Bhutan at 97, Bangladesh at 110 and Sri Lanka is at 120. The list is topped by Norway, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Finland. The rankings are based factors such as  inequality, life expectancy, GDP per capita, public trust (i.e. a lack of corruption in government and business), and social support. Together they are used to generate a happiness score of country on a scale from 1 to 10.This year it is fifth such report since the first was published in 2012.

IIT-KGP, which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance was established in 1951 by the Government of India. It was the first IIT to be established in the country.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2017