Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh's happiness rankings stand well below the national leaders, primarily due to significant challenges in healthcare and education in the Happiness Report 2024.
While some states have surged ahead, MP finds itself mired in deep-rooted issues that continue to impact the well-being of its residents.
On this International Day of Happiness, we delve into the state's ranking and the key factors holding it back, based on the latest happiness indices and reports.
Key Reports:
* India Happiness Report 2020: MP lagged behind top states like Mizoram and Gujarat due to weaknesses in healthcare, education, and high unemployment.
* Ipsos India Happiness Report 2024: MP's score fell below the West Zone average, with challenges in healthcare and education.
* World Happiness Report 2024: India's global rank of 126th reflects issues like economic inequality and inadequate services, mirrored in MP's struggles with similar barriers to happiness.
Where do we stand?
Madhya Pradesh lags behind its neighbours in happiness rankings. Gujarat outshines MP with its robust economy, healthcare, and industrial growth. Maharashtra also performs better due to superior healthcare, education, and urbanisation.
Rajasthan, though facing similar agricultural challenges, has made progress in infrastructure and urbanisation. Top states like Mizoram, Punjab and Andaman & Nicobar Islands lead due to strong community support, quality healthcare, and thriving economies, ensuring high satisfaction levels among their residents.
Key factors behind Madhya Pradesh’s low happiness ranking
* Economic Vulnerability: Madhya Pradesh's dependence on agriculture makes it vulnerable to climate change, hindering economic stability (Kumar et al., 2020).
* Poverty: Despite infrastructure improvements, poverty remains widespread, particularly in rural and tribal areas (UnHabitat Bhopal Report, 2019; Vijay & Nair, 2021).
* Healthcare Access: Rural areas suffer from inadequate healthcare infrastructure, leading to significant health disparities (Public Health Infrastructure Report, 2023; WHO Health Financing Report, 2022).
* Education: Poor education infrastructure and teacher shortages in rural areas hinder learning opportunities (CPPR Education Report, 2021).
* Infrastructure: Madhya Pradesh lags in infrastructure compared to states like Gujarat and Maharashtra, impacting daily life (World Bank Infrastructure Indicators Report, 2022).
* Social Welfare: Social welfare schemes are slow to reach rural and tribal communities, limiting their effectiveness (Bhardwaj, 2022). What happened to Anand Sansthan? Anand Sansthan, established in August 2016, aims to promote well-being in MP.
In 2017, MP partnered with IIT-Kharagpur to create a "happiness index" and planned a survey of 10,000 participants. The department was merged with the Spiritual Department in 2018 but reinstated in 2020.
In 2022, MP announced plans to introduce “happiness” in school curricula. The happiness survey, delayed by the pandemic, is still pending government approvals but is expected to be launched within two months, focusing on life satisfaction.
