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The Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India Prof. K VijayRaghavan virtually launched the “MANAS” App to promote wellbeing across age groups. MANAS which stands for Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System was endorsed as a national program by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
MANAS is a comprehensive, scalable, and national digital wellbeing platform and an app developed to augment mental well-being of Indian citizens. MANAS App integrates the health and wellness efforts of various government ministries, scientifically validated indigenous tools with gamified interfaces developed/researched by various national bodies and research institutions.
MANAS was initiated by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. It was jointly executed by NIMHANS Bengaluru, AFMC Pune and C-DAC Bengaluru.
Launching the app Prof. K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Govt. of India, laid down future directions for the app development and said, “The app must be integrated with the public health schemes like the National Health Mission, Poshan Abhiyan, e-Sanjeevani and others so that it is used widely. Besides, the application must be made multi-lingual.”
Dr. Ketaki Bapat, Scientist F, who conceptualized and led the execution of the mission said in her welcome address, “With a motto of Uttam Mann, Saksham Jan, MANAS as an initiative is intended to build a healthier and happier community, to empower it to nurture its innate potential for building a Swasth and Aatmanirbhar Bharat as envisioned by our Hon’ble PM”
Lieutenant General (Dr) Madhuri Kanitkar, Member PM-STIAC, gave an overview of MANAS. She highlighted that MANAS is based on life skills and core psychological process, with universal accessibility, delivering age-appropriate methods and promoting positive attitude focusing on wellness. Catering to the overall wellbeing of people of all age groups, the initial version of MANAS focuses on promoting positive mental health in the age group of 15-35 years.
Appreciating the efforts, Dr.Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary MEITY, said that developing apps to cater mental well-being of citizens on scalable, secure and digital platforms is the need of the hour. MEITY has also supported Aarogya Setu and CoWin portal and would be happy to support MANAS further catering to the well-being needs of all age groups.
Dr. S. D. Sudarsan, ED, CDAC, expressed that such apps would increase the quality life of the citizens and would impact the national development in coming years. He thanked all the dignitaries and PSA for his valuable suggestions.
