Why is India one of the least joyful countries in the world? Is Happiness becoming a distant dream for the Indian society? India’s lower ranking in the International Happiness Index for consecutive years is quite alarming. It is difficult to push this report under the carpet,labelling it as some kind of a conspiracy or a coincidence. 

Though happiness is an individual state of mind but it also gets affected by several external factors such as public facilities, infrastructure, level of corruption, social support, freedom and transparency in the governance. If these factors indicate an upward graph, the society is rescued from the huge burden of its non-availability. In the Indian context, these parameters are not really encouraging. The following factors are evident enough to depict the harsh realities we come across annually witha little difference here and there.

·         India ranked 126th out of 146 countries in Happiness Index 2023.

·         A total of 1,64,033 Suicides were reported in the country in 2023. 

·         Road Accidents resulted to 1,68,491 casualties in the year 2022.

·         India ranked 93 out of 180 countries in Corruption Perception Index 2023.

·         India ranked 134 in the Human Development Index 2023.

·         Among the children between 13-17 years of age, the prevalence of severe mental illness is around 7.3% 

·         Close to 6 to 7 crore people in India suffer from common-mental disorders.

·         The Global Hunger Index 2023 places India at a rank of 111 out of 125 countries. 

The inclusion of “Happiness” in the preamble of the Indian constitution will put the idea of happiness on the pedestal and influence our public policies. It will draw the attention of the civil society to the fact that it is possible to reduce the current unhappiness to a large extent and move towards a happier society. Speaking of some international examples, the USA and a tiny country like Bhutan have found a due space for ‘Happiness’ in their constitution.

Therefore, we, the undersigned, urge the Parliament and the Supreme Court of India to include “Happiness” in the preamble of the Constitution and make it one of the  guiding principles of Governance.

"A narrow vision focus on economic development may have given us a better GDP and increase in per capita income but moved our focus from environmental sustainability, social welfare, emotional and mental wellbeing of our people. These are the primary reasons of our ranking in the world happiness index year after year." Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India