KolkataAugust 19, 2025 07:48 PM IST
First published on: Aug 19, 2025 at 07:47 PM IST
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In the rough and tumble of West Bengal politics, a mental health survey by AIIMS-Kalyani has flared into a major controversy, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warning people to be on guard about a National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise being conducted in the guise of the exercise.
The CM also instructed Cabinet Ministers Arup Biswas, Firhad Hakim, and Pradip Mazumdar to ensure the survey did not proceed further. However, it has some Health Department officials worried about the Centre freezing funds for the survey because of the controversy.
“In the name of a mental health survey, Kalyani AIIMS is indirectly surveying for the NRC. If any organisation reaches your house in the name of a survey, please verify it with the state government first,” Banerjee said Monday at state secretariat Nabanna.
“The state government is not conducting any such survey. There are agencies that, in the name of several organisations, were conducting door-to-door surveys to strike off your names from the voters’ list. Be alert. Do not share your details with anybody other than officials of the state government,” the CM said.
On Tuesday, the hospital clarified it was participating in the second phase of the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) in consultation with the state government and as a partner institution of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. The questionnaire was validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and NIMHANS, the hospital said in a statement.
“The survey is being conducted in seven districts of West Bengal under the guidance and liaison of the Additional Director of Health Services (Mental Health), Department of Health & Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal. The questionnaires used in this survey have been duly validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and NIMHANS, Bengaluru, ensuring high standards of scientific and ethical rigour. This survey is part of a nationwide initiative and is being conducted across all states and Union Territories of India to assess the mental health status and needs of the population.”
A senior Health Department official said the funds for the exercise had come from the Centre. “It is rare and important work. It is also a prestigious survey that is scheduled to be conducted in seven districts. This may create a new problem as the Centre may decide to withdraw the entire funding for the survey.”
Questioning the CM’s rationale for linking the mental health survey to NRC, the BJP’s Kalyani MLA Ambika Roy said, “It is very common for the community medicine department of AIIMS to frequently conduct such surveys. It is meant to help the most vulnerable in society. How can it be connected to NRC? I think the NRC ghost is haunting our Chief Minister.”
Asked why the CM believed there was a link between the proposed NRC and the AIIMS exercise, a Trinamool Congress leader said, “We don’t know what exactly happened, but the CM was briefed by our local leaders and local administrative officials that the BJP was trying to implement NRC through the back door. The CM’s statement came after that.”
The National Mental Health Survey 2 (NMHS-2) is a large-scale, multi-centre national study to assess the prevalence, patterns, and characteristics of mental health problems in adolescents and adults across all states and Union Territories. Among other things, the survey, which began in 2024 and is scheduled to run till 2026, evaluates state-level mental health infrastructure.