Anand Sansthan

Anand Sansthan is a government department established by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet in Madhya Pradesh, making it the first state in India to have a department solely dedicated to promoting happiness and well-being. The department operates through a society called Rajya Anand Sansthan, which was formed under the Firm and Society Registration Act. Anand Sansthan was constituted by the State Government of MP in August 2016. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, oversees the department.

The Anand Sansthan, which had been merged with the 'spiritual department' by the Congress government under Kamal Nath from December 2018 to March 2020, was reinstated as a singular entity in January 2022.

Roles

The Anand department has several roles, including identifying the scale of measuring pleasure and efficiency, coordinating with other departments to promote well-being, formulating policies, implementing action plans, and mainstreaming the entire process. The department also takes feedback from citizens and publishes reports after surveying the effect of Anand Vibhag. It serves as a knowledge resource center as well.

Purpose

The Anand department was established to promote happiness and well-being in Madhya Pradesh. The department takes inspiration from other countries, such as Bhutan, which measures gross national happiness through psychological well-being, health, education, use of time, cultural diversity and harmony, good governance, community activism, natural diversity and harmony, and standard of living. The Anand department focuses on the concept of Anand, which means happiness, and aims to remove mental ailments such as jealousy, passion, malice, anger, greed, ego, and others. The department promotes yoga, meditation, pranayama, devotion, study, music, sports, and other activities to remove these mental diseases and achieve long-lasting bliss.

Committee

The Anand department has an 11-member committee that includes spiritual leaders such as Jaggi Vasudev, Baba Ramdev, Awadheshanand, and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The committee provides suggestions to the department.

The Anand department has 30 employees in various positions, including the President, CEO (Secretary level), Director of Research (Deputy Secretary level), Director of Coordination (Deputy Secretary level), Accounts Officer, Research Assistant, Junior Assistant (six posts), and Peon (five positions). The salaries for these positions range from 15,000 rupees per month for the Peon position to 1.5 lakh rupees per month for the President position. Akhilesh Argal is serving as the CEO. It has around 60,000 volunteers, who are called Anandaks. These volunteers conduct workshops called 'Anand sabhas' that include games and bhajans.

Budget

It was announced a budget of 3.60 crore rupees for the department, and a supplementary budget of Rs 7200 crore was also approved by the cabinet.

Initiatives and programmes

As a part of its efforts to promote happiness and well-being, the Anand department of the government has introduced happiness as a subject in the school syllabus for classes 9 to 12. As of February 2022, the department has prepared the draft for the books.

Neki Ki Deewar is an initiative by Anand Sansthan, which involves a charity rack where people can donate household goods to the destitute, who can pick up items they need for free. However, there have been incidents of people stealing donated items to sell for profit. The government set up 172 neki ke deewars across 51 districts as of September 2017. The Rajya Anand Sansthan runs several initiatives such as Anand Utsav and Anand Clubs to spread happiness.

Criticism

The citizens who have attended the workshops, anand sabhas conducted by volunteers have expressed dissatisfaction due to repetition in activities and disinterest from the volunteers. The department has faced criticism for its lack of sustained programs, sporadic activities, and a missing road map for its focus. Neki Ki Deewar is an initiative by Anand Sansthan, where locals are encouraged to hang old household items on public walls for those in need. However, the initiative has faced criticism due to incidents of donated items being stolen.