The National Mental Health Programme was started in 1982 for providing community based mental health care using the existing public health infrastructure. The WHO report on Global Burden Diseases has projected mental illness to be the fourth major cause of morbidity. In the Meta analysis of epidemiological studies in India the prevalence rate of mental and behavioral disorder for urban sector is 80.6 percent and rural sector 48.9 percent.

The District Mental Health Programme is a centrally sponsored scheme launched in 1996 and involves extending psychiatric services at the community level. The District Mental Health Programme is currently under implementation in 102 districts throughout the country. The National Mental Health Programme also includes strengthening of medical college department of psychiatry (under which 70 medical colleges have been covered), modernisation of mental hospitals (under which 23 mental hospitals have been funded), focusing on IEC and public education, research and training. A sum of Rs. 70 crore has been earmarked for implementation of the National Mental Health Programme during the year 2007-08.