Mental illness affects an estimated 6.5 per cent of India’s population. While 10 to 20 million (one to two per cent) of the population suffers from severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, nearly 50 million (five per cent of the population) from common mental disorders like depression and anxiety, yielding an overall estimate of 6.5 per cent of the population. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who fielded questions on the issue in the absence of Health Minister J P Nadda in the lok Sabha, said there are three centrally-run mental health institutes, 40 state run mental hospitals to treat patients suffering from mental illness.