The award was presented by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, in the presence of Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister for Information Technology and Communication, Government of Rajasthan; Shri V. Srinivas, Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan; and Smt. Nivedita Shukla Verma, Secretary, DARPG and Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare, Government of India. The presentation took place during the 29th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) 2026, held in Jaipur, Rajasthan, on July 1-2, 2026.
ICMR-MINDS is an implementation research study on the integration of screening and management of mental and substance use disorders with other non-communicable diseases. Its Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) enables task-shifting of standardised mental health screening, assessment, follow-up, and routine management from specialists to trained non-specialist frontline healthcare providers, backed by evidence-based digital decision support.
The initiative is being implemented across seven states through seven collaborating institutions: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Guwahati (Assam); Gujarat Institute of Mental Health (GIMH), Ahmedabad (Gujarat); AIIMS, New Delhi (Haryana); St. John's Medical College, Bengaluru (Karnataka); AIIMS, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh); AIIMS, Bhubaneswar (Odisha); and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh (Punjab).
Reacting to the recognition, Dr Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research, and Director General, ICMR, said, "ICMR will continue to pioneer data-driven, scalable technology interventions to solve complex public health challenges. Through ongoing collaboration with participating institutions and state health systems, ICMR remains committed to providing affordable, standardised, and high-quality healthcare platforms for the people of India.".
The success of ICMR-MINDS has been made possible through close collaboration with the State Health Departments of Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab, along with State Mental Health and NCD Programme teams, district health authorities, Principal Investigators, Co-Principal Investigators, healthcare professionals, and field teams across the participating states.
