Th s book explores human well-being in South Asia from a policy dimension. It discusses the cultural history and diversity of the region in order to highlight major priority areas of public policy to improve people's quality of life. The huge gap between economic development and human development, in areas such as education, health and income, is a concern for policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders. The book helps develop a strong argument for a shift of focus of state's expenditures aimed at improving human well-being, and assesses public policy initiatives from the perspectives of the stakeholders such as the state, the market, households, civil society as well as NGOs and agencies involved in this development mission. As such it is of great interest to scholars in the field of quality-of-life and well-being research and policymakers at national and international level.

Dr VK Shrotryia is a Professor at the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India.  He has taught in Bhutan for around a decade and developed an interest in the study of quality-of-life, happiness and gross national happiness. He coauthored a chapter on the history of human well-being in South Asia for a volume (The Pursuit of Human Well-Being - The Untold Global History) edited by Richard Estes& Joe Sirgy and published by Springer.  He recently drafted a monograph on inclusion of happiness in public policy in India for India Policy Foundation, New Delhi.  His academic interest includes well-being, happiness, and corporate strategies.

He is one of the experts involved in the activities of Rajya Anand Sansthan (State Happiness Institute), Madhya Pradesh, India.  His current research areas include developing alternatives to GDP to measure progress at national& global level and developing strategies for making organizations happy.