By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : After a nationwide survey of 16,950 people from March to July 2020 by Professor Rajesh K. Pilania, Mizoram has been declared the happiest state in India. A study was done during this corona period to find out which are the happiest states and union territories across the country. Mizoram, Punjab and Andaman-Nicobar are the three happiest states.This has been revealed by the country’s first Happiness Index. Punjab, Gujarat and Telangana topped the major states and Mizoram, Sikkim and Arunachal are at the top among the smaller states.

The 10 states that scored poorly are Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Goa, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh. The ranking of these states respectively is 27 to 36. This study was done between March 2020 to July 2020. 16,950 people from across the country participated in it.The results of this study suggest that marital status, age group, education and earnings have a positive correlation with happiness positively. Married people are happier than unmarried people. In this study it was also seen that what effect did corona have on people’s happiness? Dr. Ashley Williams, Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School, explains that people who give more importance to time than money are happier.Corona has had the greatest impact on the happiness of the people of Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana.

There was no impact on the people of Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. At the same time, people in Manipur, Andaman and Nicobar islands and Lakshadweep remained optimistic in this era. In the study’s conclusion, Dr. Imma Seppala, science director of the renowned institute of Stanford, states that kind and patient people are the happiest and prosperous.According to the study, the people of the country are optimistic about the future and are looking at themselves more happy and prosperous than the present situation in the next 5 years. Manipur, Andaman-Nicobar Islands and Gujarat are the happiest states in the future Happiness rankings. Among the big states, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Andhra are at the top. Happiness index based on these 5 parameters – 1. Work related issues like income and growth, 2. Family relations and friendship, 3. Physical and mental health, 4. Social Issues and Philanthropy, 5. Religion or spiritual engagement.