Jaydip Sarkar Any new act must seek to redress the balance and incorporate within it the notions of fairness, sound ethical principles with adequate opportunities for the provision of high standards of clinical care. It must clarify the entry and exit points in law of patients from hospitals and must demonstrate equality to all classes of patients. Most of all it must safeguard the rights of the patient and impose certain minimum duties on those providing care and treatment and in doing so, recognize, acknowledge and prioritize the role played by psychiatrists (as opposed to medical officers of other persuasions and specialties). Commensurate with the duties of psychiatrists (and others) the act must also give psychiatrists the powers to determine what is needed to treat a patient (including the power to detain) such that the act becomes more relevant to the daily clinical activities of a psychiatrist, thereby ensuring a higher rate of usage of the act. Families and the community are two of the biggest resources available to patients in India and all efforts must be made to make the act easily accessible to them, at a time when they need it and in a way that they can make use of it meaningfully. Equally, the act must also seek to prevent any abuse and abandonment of patients by families. The primary health (and social) care infrastructure must support the family to develop and sustain their capacity to identify and manage the mental health problems within available means. Building knowledge and awareness of families can make a real difference and to that end resourceful use of health guides, anganwadi and health workers as also NGOs can help raise awareness as well as provide advocacy, support and even financial aid in certain deserving cases. The new Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh has assured the nation that his government will aim to press on with economic development policies with a “human face”. 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