Top Russian senator proposes ‘Ministry of Happiness’ to improve life

House Speaker Valentina Matviyenko has recently pushed for a separate ministry to be created that would aim to increase happiness and feelings on any government initiative within Russia. Piggy-backing on the United Arab Emirates creation of the ministry, she feels that its creation would be beneficial to the government and its people. The UAE added the minister of happiness in February this year and is said to use work by the UN and various other experts and researches to base their work on. Matviyenko added that another benefit of such an institution is that citizens who are happy themselves would try to cheer other people up.