Mr. Sikkim 2024 Mingma Tshering Tamang launches mental health drive to help youth fight addiction and depression
Tamang stressed how important family support is for young people. He pointed out that parents must be involved in their children’s lives and listen carefully to their problems.
LOCAL
Mingma Tshering Tamang, popularly known as Mr. Sikkim 2024 and a well-known bodybuilder in the region, has started an important program focused on mental health awareness. His aim is to help young people in Sikkim deal with serious issues like addiction, depression, and suicide.
Tamang, who has won several bodybuilding contests at the district and state levels, recently spoke about the need to pay attention to mental health problems faced by the youth. In a video message, he said, “Suicide, drugs, and bad habits are problems we cannot ignore anymore.” He also shared how these issues affect many young people, including some of his own friends.
The new program by Tamang is designed to reach out to young people through talks, podcasts, and other activities. He hopes to offer support to those who are struggling and encourage them to fight against these problems. He openly spoke about his own battle with depression, saying it made him understand the pain others go through.
Tamang stressed how important family support is for young people. He pointed out that parents must be involved in their children’s lives and listen carefully to their problems. “Sometimes parents do not accept their children’s problems or react harshly, which makes things worse,” he said. “Just like building a house takes time and care, raising children needs the same careful attention.”
He also mentioned that good relationships among siblings and friends play a big role in helping young people feel better. When someone feels ignored or misunderstood, it can make their problems even harder.
Along with his mental health work, Tamang is also standing against harmful behaviors like stealing and drug use. He believes with strong efforts, these problems can be removed from society. He thanked the police and others who are working hard to keep the community safe.
The mental health awareness program does not stop at just talking about problems. It also wants to motivate young people to live healthy and happy lives. Tamang promised that soon, experts and other important people will join the program to share their knowledge and support.
“I am very hopeful that even small improvements will be a big success for us,” Tamang said. “This is not just my fight but a fight for all of us to build a better Sikkim.”
Earlier in May 2025, Sikkim took a major step toward tackling mental health issues with a new strategy developed under the Sikkim Integrated Service Provision and Innovation for Reviving Economic Program, known as Sikkim-INSPIRES. This plan was created after a year-long study done together with the Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy (CMHLP), Indian Law Society, Pune. The approach is different now—it focuses on solving mental health problems as social issues, not just health issues, and involves many people and groups working together from the ground up.
Rohini Pradhan, Programme Director of Sikkim INSPIRES, explained that earlier mental health was seen mainly as a health problem handled by the health department. But after their study, they found it needs to be treated as a social problem involving communities, families, schools, police, and many others. The new plan will be put into action step by step, starting with strengthening leadership and teamwork across government departments, raising awareness in communities, working on suicide prevention, and improving data to plan better actions.
The strategy also highlights the urgent need to address high suicide rates in the state, especially among young people. In fact, Sikkim has the highest suicide rate in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). In 2022, the rate was 43.1 suicides per 100,000 people, much higher than the national average of 12.4. This has been a steady problem for many years. Several factors cause these suicides, including unemployment, substance abuse, relationship troubles, and abuse.
Though Sikkim’s youth unemployment rate is lower than the national average, a large number of youth suicides are linked to joblessness. The state also faces high rates of opioid and cannabis use, along with mental health conditions like bipolar disorder and eating disorders. Despite this, many people who need mental health treatment do not get it, due to a shortage of trained professionals and a focus mostly on medical treatment rather than social support.