On this occasion of World Mental Health Day, we would like the state government and its policy planners to deliberate on the overall mental health situation in the state and strategies to deal with the situation. It is no longer a health issue or about opening mental hospitals and clinics. We need to broaden our perspectives in view of its socio-economic conditions in play. The other day, the Child Rights chief said, one in every eight individuals in Manipur is grappling with mental health issues, a figure that translates to 20 out of every 100 people, significantly higher than the national average of 10 in 100.
Pradipkumar highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing violence in the state over the last 16 months have exacerbated mental health challenges. We have been talking about these mental health issues all along. For the general population of the state, it is one after another.
After the Covid 19 pandemic, the present crisis in the state has become a great cause of concern for the mental health of the general population especially among children and the teenage youths. Life in Covid-19 times was a frustrating experience for the youth and students as well as the middle-aged and elderly. Faced with new realities and lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues, mental health of individuals had taken a toll. And it was further compounded by the ethnic conflict.
People who are not directly affected by the 14-month long violence may not understand the mental stress and trauma faced by those who were uprooted from their homes and living in temporary shelters with no end in sight of the violence or of returning to their home and hearth. Leaders, politicians or otherwise, go on spewing venom and hate to further the ongoing crisis for a singular agenda of power and political aspirations besides control of territory while the hopes of a dignified life and simple aspirations are dashed to oblivion.
More than 60 thousand internally displaced people are still languishing in several relief camps or temporary shelters in the form of prefabricated homes spread across the state as a result of the present communal conflict which still shows no signs of respite. Life in the relief camps is difficult. The collective trauma and state of mental health among the refugees especially among the small children who have had to bear witness to parents and relatives beaten up or killed and being on the run from the marauding mobs assisted by armed militants have been ignored so far.
Add to that, a daily routine of living on dole outs with no job or means to earn an income to provide for the family while avenues for returning to their original home and hearth is not on the radar. The person who committed suicide in his pre-fabricated home in Kwakta, Bishnupur district was a bricklayer who had a home in Churachandpur town and a dignified life working with his hands to feed his family. What led to his ultimate decision to end life is a question which should haunt the leaders wherever they be.
In the early days of the conflict, the state government had shut down all educational institutions including schools. Schools and colleges were made to accommodate the large number of paramilitary forces personnel while relief camps were opened in some of them. Manipur had never seen such a heavy deployment of central forces at one time. Even during the height of insurgency, the state did not have such a heavy presence of paramilitary and security forces.
The constant state of conflict in the state in the late 70s, 80s and 90s had adversely affected the mental health of the general population to such an extent that generations have been going through a collective trauma besides depression and hopelessness at the individual level. Corruption at every level and the prevalence of drug addiction among the young have added to the general malaise.
Now, the double jeopardy of the pandemic and the present crisis is certainly going to have far reaching consequences in the coming years. So, policy planners need brainstorming sessions to chalk out new strategies to evolve an overall approach taking into consideration the multi-faceted issues instead of relying on short-term salves born out of knee-jerk reactions of politicians.