A PARADIGM SHIFT IN MENTAL HEALTH POLICY

Institutional responses to suicides are often individualistic and reductionist

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On March 24, the Supreme Court of India formed a National Task Force to prevent the increasing deaths by suicide of students on campuses. It also directed the Delhi Police to register an FIR on the complaints of the family members of two students who had died by suicide while studying at IIT Delhi in 2023. That year, following a spate of deaths by suicide, the IIT Council led by the Education Minister directed IITs to ensure 'zero tolerance' to discrimination and provide a robust support system to students.

The institutional response to suicide is often individualistic and reductionist — it is almost always to appoint more psychologists on campuses. The socio-structural determinants of mental health, such as discrimination and biased institutional policies, are almost always left unattended. Even though counselling centres are active at all IITs, with the goals ranging from "creating a suicide-free campus", "creating a stigma-free and empathetic environment for issues related to mental health" to "creating a campus conducive to happiness and peace of mind for its residents", psychologists refrain from calling attention to the biased institutional policies that impact mental health.