• Judicial Action: An Orissa High Court division bench headed by Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Chittaranjan Dash directed the Odisha government to submit a status report detailing measures taken to institutionalize mental health awareness across educational institutions.
• Judicial Observation: The court emphasized that the state “cannot show any apathetic attitude” regarding the mental wellness of students and vulnerable demographics.

• Defunct Statutory Machinery: The Mental Health Review Boards (MHRBs) constituted in districts in 2021 have largely remained non-functional, without regular renewals or reconstitution as mandated under the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.
• Critical Infrastructure Shortage: Odisha has only one specialized government-run rehabilitation facility (at SCB Medical College, Cuttack, with a 150-bed capacity), leaving the remaining 29 districts dependent on fragmented secondary facilities.
• Primary Health Deficits: Absence of dedicated psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, or trained medical officers across Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs).
• Data on Vulnerability: According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, Odisha recorded 5,791 suicides in 2024, with over 56% linked to domestic/family distress, underscoring the acute need for early psychosocial interventions.

• The Act transformed mental health treatment from a charity/institutionalization paradigm to a rights-based paradigm (Right to Access Mental Healthcare under Section 18).
• MHRB Mandate: MHRBs are quasi-judicial bodies tasked with reviewing admissions, protecting patients from involuntary restraint, and monitoring Advance Directives. Their non-operational status leaves patients without an institutional grievance redressal mechanism.

• Mental healthcare remains heavily centralized in tertiary urban medical colleges. The District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) frequently runs without full psychiatric teams, preventing early-stage detection at PHCs/CHCs.

• Structural pressures in higher education—competitive examinations, placement anxieties, and socio-economic distress—often meet institutional neglect or punitive disciplinary measures instead of empathetic pastoral care.

• Tele-MANAS (Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States): Launched under the National Tele Mental Health Programme in 2022 to provide 24/7 toll-free psychiatric first-aid and counseling, acting as a digital triage platform.
• MANODARPAN Initiative: Launched by the Ministry of Education under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers, and families during and post-pandemic.
• National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS): Aims to reduce suicide mortality by 10% by 2030 through multi-sectoral collaborations, surveillance frameworks, and integration into school curricula.
• Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs): Designed to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC), which formally includes basic screening and counseling for common mental disorders.

The Mental Healthcare Act 2017, judicial activism on social welfare, and student welfare policy interventions (Tele-MANAS, MANODARPAN) are high-yield OPSC Prelims (Governance & Social Justice) and OPSC Mains GS Paper II themes, especially when anchored to Odisha-specific implementation gaps.

For notes on health policy, social justice legislation, and Odisha-specific governance current affairs, aspirants preparing in Bhubaneswar can join the OPSC Foundation Batch at Strive Edge IAS — recognized as one of the best OPSC OAS coaching institutes in Bhubaneswar.