Dubai: Slowly but surely, governments are accepting that the solution to happiness and well-being clearly lies in changing the very purpose and goal of development, stated Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan and leader of the People’s Democratic Party in Bhutan.
In his main address titled ‘The Role of Government in Achieving Happiness’ at the opening session of the First Global Dialogue on Happiness preceding the fifth edition of the World Government Summit, he added: “If the basic purpose of development were changed from the pursuit of profit to the pursuit of well-being in all its dimensions, the true level of happiness in the planet would certainly go up.”
Tshering Tobgay began his address by showcasing a series of photos. Speaking about the relevance and timeliness of the Global Dialogue on Happiness, he reiterated that the United Arab Emirates was well-qualified to host this discourse.
He said: “Here in the UAE, you have a minister for happiness, a minister for the future, a minister for tolerance – this is ground-breaking. You are certainly ahead of the pack in defining your ultimate goal as the happiness and well-being of the Emirati people.”
As part of his address, Tshering Tobgay elaborated upon the four inter-related pillars of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) – equitable social economic development, protection of culture, preservation of environment and good governance. He further explained the nine domains that influence the happiness and well-being of Bhutan’s people, namely standard of living, health, education, environment, governance, psychological well-being, time use, cultural resilience and community vitality. He placed the last four domains at the cutting-edge of government development philosophy.
Bhutan’s 2015 GNH survey results indicated a lower level of happiness in rural areas, which prompted the government to announce measures to step up programs to improve rural livelihood and increase maternity leave threefold from two months to six months. These examples demonstrate how the nation has used the results of the GNH surveys to make policy improvements.
