Sholay to Suraksha: A quiet revolution in suicide prevention starts in Karnataka's Ramanagara
Ramanagara: On a tranquil two-acre stretch of land in Ramanagara — once the cinematic backdrop for Sholay and Amitabh Bachchan's months-long shoot — a mental health initiative that could shape suicide prevention strategies across India and Asia is unfolding.
Project Suraksha — short for surveillance system to track suicide and self-harm — is a community-based suicide prevention model, led by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) in collaboration with Karnataka govt and funded by Himalaya Wellness Company.
The ancestral land of psychiatrist Dr CR Chandrashekar has been converted into a rural outreach centre, operational since Feb 2023.
From this base, a multi-tiered response is being piloted in Channapatna across all 32 panchayats. The process of rolling it out across Ramanagara district has already begun.
An official district-level centre operates at the zilla panchayat building about 3km away. Thirty residents per panchayat have been trained to form community surveillance teams. "They're the shoulder people cry on, the ones who notice distress before it becomes a tragedy," said Anish V Cherian, project lead and principal investigator.
These teams include teachers, anganwadi workers, and autorickshaw drivers trained to intervene in emergencies. Agricultural shopkeepers are being asked to limit the sale of excess fertilisers, which are sometimes used in self-harm.
Schools and health centres have identified gatekeepers to monitor distress. Newspapers are analysed for responsible suicide reporting, and families of those who died by suicide are offered grief counselling and support through mourning rituals.
At the district-level coordination centre in the ZP office, a six-member team rotates duties to respond to emergencies. On Thursday, Suraksha received approval from the police department to access suicide data directly from station-level reports — bypassing delays associated with NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) data that typically emerges a year late.
"This gives us timely data. Now we can respond while the window for intervention is still open," said Cherian.
Ramanagara superintendent of police Srinivas Gowda acknowledged the initiative's novelty: "Data usually stays with hospitals or police, but this model actually uses trained mental health professionals to act."
Data will be integrated with information from 68 primary health centres, urban PHCs, and community health centres, where ASHAs and medical officers help identify cases in a "self-harm registry".
Anganwadi workers from various districts underwent training this week.
"In village setups, no one wants to go to police. We're learning to respond within the community," said Pushpalatha, a worker from Channapatna.
Anmol Jain, CEO of the zilla panchayat, told trainees: "Mental health isn't just for people who are 'mad'. Many suffer silently. We must help them."
Arya Thirumeni, programme manager at Suraksha, outlined their interventions: Safety planning cards listing personal warning signs, coping methods, and emergency contacts; follow-ups over two years for those who attempted to die by suicide; and secure storage of lethal means such as pesticides or medication.
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