Anand Sansthan
| Formation | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Type | Government department |
| Legal status | Active |
| Purpose | Promoting Happiness and Inner well-being |
| Headquarters | Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh |
Region served | Madhya Pradesh |
President – General Assembly | Mohan Yadav |
CEO | Ashish Kumar |
Volunteers | 1,43,201 (Anandaks) |
| Website | https://www.anandsansthanmp.in/ |
Rajya Anand Sansthan is a pioneering government institution under Happiness Department established in 2016 by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, India, with the aim of promoting inner well-being, emotional resilience, and a value-based life among citizens.
Roles
The Anand department has several roles, including identifying the scale of measuring Anand and coordinating with other departments to promote Inner 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.
The Anand department will have the following functions:
- Identifying and defining the yardsticks of happiness and well being.
- Setting guidelines for various government departments for collaborative functioning, as they work towards spreading joy in the State.
- Framing a planned and structured policy for the concept of happiness and integrating its implementation with mainstream governance.
- Designing activities and determining an action plan for the experiencing of joy.
- Reviewing and evaluating the happiness quotient of citizens as per well-researched parameters and at regular time intervals.
- Preparing and publishing a study report on the state of happiness in Madhya Pradesh.
- Continuous researching and improving upon the methods of happiness dispersal as also the parameters of assessing those methods.
- Working as a Knowledge Resource Center on the subject of Happiness.
In order to fulfill these objectives, the Madhya Pradesh government decided to set up Rajya Anand Sansthan as a functional unit. The Rajya Anand Sansthan is an independent registered society, which will work towards achieving the said objectives.
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.[1]
Initiatives and programmes
Alpviram: Taking a Pause & Quiet Time for Inner Listening
Alpviram is an activity which aims at bringing a positive disposition in the outlook of people in general and government employees and officers in particular. Apart from inner cleansing and rise in personal maturity, it makes them happier too. A happy employee always gives better output. The quality of work done by him in the office can be evidence of the kind of life he is living.
Knowing well that an overall feeling of well-being cannot stem from material conveniences and prosperity alone, employees need to have a fundamental understanding of what a joyful and complete life means. Rajya Anand Sansthan endeavors to make available such trained volunteers (Anand Sahyogies) who conduct Alpviram programs and help bring about a healthy change in the working of government offices and in the mindsets of officers. An Anand Sahyogi could be either from amidst the office employees or from private organizations. Government employees are roped into such activities at regular intervals so they get to experience the joy of meaningful selfless service.
Anand ki Aur:
Rajya Anand Sansthan conducts various programs for the citizens through which they can experience inner happiness. One such major programme of Sansthan is Alpviram where people are given tools which help them in connecting with their conscience and living their life on its basis. It is being realized that a man basically interacts with self, family, society and the rest of nature. A system already exists in all these four levels. If we understand this system and live life according to it, we can live happily. If a person has a clear understanding about these, then he can decide his conduct. With the right understanding one can live in constant bliss with the co-existence of all four systems (self, family, society and the nature).
To understand this, basically we have to clarify the importance and priority of convenience, relationship and understanding. By running after facilities i.e. material resources, wealth, position, opulence, etc., the possibility of attaining happiness through them is very limited. There are many examples of this - affluent people, who have wealth, position, prestige, but they are not happy. In such a situation, the importance of relationship for happiness becomes clear. Living in relationship with right understanding and feeling increases happiness.
To create understanding of the meaning of happiness, we also need to understand the four orders in Nature which are Material Order, Plant/Bio Order, Animal Order and The Human (Knowledge) Order. Each order is connected to other orders and their relationship is in such a way that they all fulfill and coexist with each other. We can live happily only if we understand the interconnectedness and natural fulfillment of these four orders. As soon as we go against this system our happiness starts receding. By understanding all these things and by continuously judging our action, behavior, emotions, thoughts and beliefs on the basis of inner voice (Natural acceptance), we can decide at our own level to be happy. In such situation, outer things may not be able to affect our happiness. Our happiness will be in our control i.e. we can ourselves decide whether we want to be happy or unhappy.
In the “Anand ki Aur” program, techniques will be discussed to make people aware about the above subject matter and to make them learn to be happy while doing their work on the basis of their natural acceptance (inner voice).This three to six day program is being conducted in Madhya Pradesh by Rajya Anand Sansthan in collaboration with Universal Human Values Team (U.H.V.) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The Sansthan strives to connect its Anandaks with this program, so that their life becomes joyful and can also inspire others towards being happy.
The “Anand Ki Aur” Program has been started to further help those Anandak, who have understood connection with self through the “Alpviram” Program, to understand coexistence with family, society and nature leading to harmony within.
Anand Utsav
A vibrant community life brings joy to the lives of citizens. Keeping this in mind, the "Anand Utsav" (Festival of Joy) is celebrated annually between January 14th and 28th.
The objective of Anand Utsav is to organize group-level sports and cultural programs to enhance participation and enthusiasm among citizens. The core spirit of Anand Utsav is participation, not competition. Anand Utsav is celebrated in both urban and rural areas. The festival primarily features locally popular traditional sports such as कबड्डी (Kabaddi), खो-खो (Kho-Kho), sack race, tug-of-war, chair race, पिट्ठू (Pithoo), सितोलिया (Sitoliya), spoon race, lemon race, etc., as well as cultural programs like folk music, dance, singing, bhajans, kirtans, plays, and other locally determined activities.
Anand Utsav is organized in a way that ensures the participation of all sections of society, including men and women, citizens of all age groups, and people with disabilities. To ensure the special participation of men and women above 50 years of age, people with disabilities, and senior citizens, activities suitable for them are included in the Anand Utsav programs. https://www.amarujala.com/madhya-pradesh/bhopal/mp-news-anand-utsav-festival-of-joy-to-be-held-in-madhya-pradesh-from-january-14-spreading-waves-of-happin-2026-01-05
Anand Club:
Anand Club is based on the premise that an Anandak or the volunteer should acquire the skills of leading a happy harmonious life and then initiate/form a club to spread the same in his vicinity. Without trying to acquire any authority /wisdom over the study or philosophy of life and without indulging in any profound contemplations or deliberations over them, one can remain happy and positive by adopting simple habits and through small daily acts based on common sense and awareness.
Anandam: Joy of Giving
Anandam is an initiative of the Rajya Anand Sansthan which encourages people to engage in the “Joy of Giving.” The idea is to give them a platform to share their surplus with the lesser privileged. In most households books, clothes and other utility items can easily be dispensed with. Institutional arrangements to collect such items and deliver them to the needy can be one way of service. This is what the Anandam Program endeavors to do. People are expected to leave their surplus belongings at predefined places from where the deprived could collect items of use at their convenience. This arrangement of Anandam has been established in every district of the State with the help of public representatives and citizens. It is running smoothly at 172 places in 55 districts with self-help organizations assisting the district administration in the same.
Anand Sabha:
Rajya Anand Sansthan holds the considered view that, in addition to the prescribed curriculum for various subjects in schools, students should also be exposed to topics that help them understand certain important aspects of life. To achieve this, sessions should be organized based on specially designed modules. In these sessions, students will not only study subject matter but will also engage in activities that will develop their understanding of these aspects. Such sessions have been termed Anand Sabha.
Anand Calendar:
We need no accomplishments or physical things to achieve happiness. Happiness can be achieved by doing small things like helping, playing a sport, learning new things, doing new things or we can just be happy without any reason. Although we all know what gives us happiness, we tend to forget practicing them. It would be so nice if someone could remind us what to do, how many times we have done it and how it felt. In order to help you with this Rajya Anand Sansthan has developed an Anand Calendar. With the help of this calendar we can highlight those activities which make us happy. Actually this calendar has been developed with the thought that we should actively practice staying happy.
Anand Gram/Basti:
The State Institute of Happiness is implementing various happiness programs through Anandaks (volunteers) to help citizens of the state experience inner happiness. The concept of "Happiness Village/Basti" is to enhance the inner happiness of all the people of a village by implementing all the programs of the Institute together regularly and continuously in that village. Furthermore, it is necessary to implement all the programs and activities of the Institute systematically with a specific population and understand their impact on them. To this end, the concept of "Happiness Village" was conceived, where local people are encouraged to directly use the happiness tools developed/selected by the State Institute of Happiness. Using these tools, efforts should be made to assess the changes in people's lives and continuously improve our programs. The greatest resource for the development of any village or town is its people. Local problems can be solved more effectively by the community itself. The people themselves can also find solutions to how to remain happy even with the limited resources available to them. Every society has some people who voluntarily work for the development and upliftment of the society. If such people are made aware, capable, and empowered, they will be able to work for the internal development of the society in a more effective and systematic manner with the participation of the community. The State Anand Sansthan has envisioned Anand Gram/Basti to train and develop such self-motivated people into empowered Anandakas.
Happiness Index:
One of the main objectives of the State Institute of Happiness is to prepare and publish a Happiness Index to assess the level of happiness in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Institute began work in this direction immediately upon its inception. The State Institute of Happiness signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur to collaborate on the development of a Happiness Index. Based on the terms of this MoU, a survey is being prepared to develop a Happiness Index, conduct a survey among citizens, and publish its report. As a preliminary preparation, the IIT team studied popular methods and indices for measuring happiness worldwide. The findings revealed that happiness is linked to the concept of a good and quality life. This includes positive feelings, meaning of one's existence, life satisfaction, basic facilities and good governance etc. Currently, Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to begin work on assessing the well-being of its citizens. In the near future, the State Happiness Institute will be able to publish a happiness report for the citizens of Madhya Pradesh.
https://www.samaykhabar.com/2025/12/blog-post_15.html
https://www.bhaskar.com/local/mp/khargone/news/anand-clubs-celebrated-diwali-campaign-136240525.html
anand gram == References ==
- ↑ "आनंद विभाग बनाने वाला देश का पहला राज्य बनेगा मध्यप्रदेश" (in Hindi). Dainik Bhaskar. 2016.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
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