Academic Credentials for Mental Health Professionals in India

India gates its mental health professions at the qualification, and each profession sits under a different law. This guide sets out what each route requires, who sets the requirement, and where it is written down.

Quick answer: which qualification leads where

There is no single mental health licence in India. Each profession sits under its own statute, and the qualification that opens a register differs by profession. The table pairs each role with the qualification behind it and the body that holds the register.

One point to settle at the outset. A general university MA or MSc in Clinical Psychology is not, on its own, a route to registration as a Clinical Psychologist. Registration as a Clinical Psychologist requires an RCI-recognised clinical qualification from an RCI-accredited centre.¹ Section 3 explains what that means and how it changed in 2025.

What NEP 2020 changed, and why it matters

Two separate questions decide what an Indian qualification is worth. Is the degree recognised academically? And does a statutory council accept it as the qualification that opens a register? Conflating those two is the most common mistake in Indian mental health careers advice.

The end of the M.Phil

The M.Phil was the standard professional qualification in Indian clinical psychology and psychiatric social work. It is being withdrawn.

The National Education Policy 2020 led the University Grants Commission to discontinue M.Phil programmes.² The Rehabilitation Council of India records the position in its own words: one of the changes mandated by the Commission was to discontinue all M.Phil programmes including the M.Phil in Clinical Psychology, which made a replacement programme necessary.³

Two M.Phil programmes were given extra time because of the clinical services that depend on them. Admissions to the M.Phil in Clinical Psychology and the M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work were permitted until the 2025-26 academic session only.² The Commission granted it in partial relaxation of the 2022 Regulations, because of the part clinical psychologists and psychiatric social workers play in mental health services.

The practical effect is simple. If you hold one of these degrees, or were admitted within the extension, it stands. If you are choosing now, it is not the route you will be entering.

The four-year bachelor's degree

The other change is at the undergraduate end. The RCI-regulated MA in Clinical Psychology sets its minimum entry requirement as a four-year BA or BSc in Psychology from a Commission-recognised university.⁴ Candidates who completed a three-year degree must pass a fourth-year bridge course, or the first year of a master's programme in psychology.⁴

That is a real planning constraint. A three-year BA in Psychology no longer leads directly into the clinical route.

Clinical psychology: the RCI route

Clinical psychology is the one psychology title in India with a long-standing statutory register, under the Rehabilitation Council of India Act 1992, which names clinical psychologists among its rehabilitation professionals.¹

What the law requires

The Act works through two linked ideas. Recognised rehabilitation qualifications are those in the Act's Schedule, which is added to as the Council recommends qualifications for recognition under section 11. The Central Rehabilitation Register is the statutory list of practitioners. Section 13 ties practice to both. A qualification in the Schedule is sufficient for enrolment, and no person other than a rehabilitation professional who holds a recognised rehabilitation qualification and is enrolled on the Register may practise as a rehabilitation professional anywhere in India, hold such an office, sign a certificate reserved to one, or give expert evidence in that capacity.¹ Contravening that carries imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to one thousand rupees, or both.¹

One exception sits on the face of the Act. Notwithstanding that bar, a doctor or paramedic in physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopaedics, ear nose and throat, ophthalmology or psychiatry, employed or working in a hospital or establishment owned, controlled or funded by the Central or a State Government and notified by the Central Government, may discharge those same functions.¹ It is a carve-out for named government-sector clinicians, not a general one.

The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 adds a second definition of the same title, and it governs the roles that Act creates. A clinical psychologist is a person with a recognised qualification in Clinical Psychology from an institution approved and recognised by the Council, or a person with a postgraduate degree in Psychology, Clinical Psychology or Applied Psychology together with an M.Phil in Clinical Psychology or in Medical and Social Psychology, from a full-time two-year course including supervised clinical training at a university that is Commission-recognised and Council-approved.⁸

Read that second limb carefully, because it is where advice goes wrong. It does not say a postgraduate psychology degree is enough. It requires the degree plus the two-year M.Phil, and in both limbs the Council's approval of the training institution is doing the work.

There is a live tension between the two instruments. The Mental Healthcare Act's second limb names the M.Phil, which the University Grants Commission has discontinued.²⁸ The first limb turns on Council recognition rather than a named degree, so it carries the new programme without amendment. The second limb also ends with "or such recognised qualifications as may be prescribed", which leaves room for a successor to be named without amending the Act.⁸ We found no notification prescribing one, and we do not speculate on how the position will be resolved.

The RCI-regulated MA in Clinical Psychology

This is the current route. The Council describes it as a two-year programme effective from academic session 2025-26, in place of the M.Phil in Clinical Psychology.³ Its stated aim is to prepare a clinical psychologist to function as an independent clinician competent to deliver mental, physical and rehabilitative healthcare services.³

Entry requires a four-year BA or BSc in Psychology with at least 55% in aggregate, or 50% for SC and ST candidates.⁴ Admission is by entrance examination weighted 70% written test and 30% interview, decided by a selection committee including the Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology.⁴ The programme runs two academic years full-time, with practicum and apprenticeship experience.⁴

Why the centre matters more than the degree name

The Council does not accredit the words on the certificate. It accredits the department, and its conditions are specific enough to be worth checking before you apply.⁵

• An independent Department of Clinical Psychology, headed by a senior clinical psychologist at Professor, Additional Professor or Associate Professor level holding a valid Central Rehabilitation Register registration
• At least two full-time clinical psychology faculty, one at Associate Professor level or above and one at Assistant Professor or Lecturer level or above
• A minimum caseload of 150 cases a month on average for an annual intake of four candidates, rising by one candidate for every further 30 cases a month
• At least half that caseload undergoing psychological treatment of some form. The Council states plainly that assessments alone, without therapy interventions, are suboptimal for training in clinical psychology

Postings outside the parent institute are allowed for specialty exposure such as child guidance, family therapy, addiction or neuro-rehabilitation. They may not exceed three calendar months in an academic year, and must be supervised by an expert in the area.⁵

What the two years are assessed on

The examination structure is the clearest picture of what the training actually is.⁶

Each therapy record must be endorsed by the supervising consultant and carry the registration number, the date first seen, and the supervisor's name and signature.⁶ A dissertation is also required, with ethics-committee clearance and a plagiarism screening report among its supporting documents.⁶

The M.Phil, and what a general master's degree gives you

The M.Phil in Clinical Psychology was the recognised route until the change above. The Council's own guidelines set it as a two-year programme, effective from academic session 2017-18.⁷ If you hold it, or were admitted within the extension to 2025-26, it remains the qualification the register was built on.²

A general university MA or MSc in clinical psychology is a real qualification and a normal step into research, teaching, doctoral study, supervised assessment work and many roles across the sector. What it does not do on its own is put you on the Central Rehabilitation Register, or entitle you to the title of Clinical Psychologist.¹

A PhD is likewise a research degree, awarded under the Commission's doctoral regulations, and is not a route onto the Register.² Many registered clinical psychologists hold one, entered after the professional qualification rather than instead of it.

If your intention is registered clinical practice, the question to ask a programme is not whether the university is recognised. It is whether the Council has approved that department to deliver the RCI-regulated qualification.

Counselling and non-clinical psychology

This is where the Indian picture has changed most, and where older guidance is wrong in both directions.

The statutory frame exists

The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act 2021 received the assent of the President on 28 March 2021. It provides for regulation and maintenance of standards of education and services by allied and healthcare professionals, and for a Central Register and State Registers.¹⁰

The Act works through recognised categories, being the categories listed in its Schedule.¹⁰ Category 7 is Community Care, Behavioural Health Sciences and other Professionals. Its Behavioural Health Sciences entries are:¹¹

• Psychologist, expressly excepting the Clinical Psychologist covered under the Rehabilitation Council of India for persons with disabilities
• Behavioural Analyst
• Integrated Behaviour Health Counsellor
• Health Educator and Counsellors, including Disease Counsellors, Diabetes Educators and Lactation Consultants
• Social workers, including Clinical Social Worker, Psychiatric Social Worker and Medical Social Worker
• HIV Counsellors and Family Planning Counsellors
• Mental Health Support Workers

The Act's own note defines the Behavioural Health Sciences Professional as someone who undertakes scientific study of the emotions, behaviours and biology relating to a person's mental well-being, and states that the category includes counsellors, analysts, psychologists, educators and support workers providing counselling, therapy and mediation services.¹¹

So the common claim that counselling and non-clinical psychology are unregulated fields in India is wrong as a statement about the statute. Parliament named the category, and named the Psychologist plainly within it, excepting the Clinical Psychologist. It did not name a general counsellor. Every counsellor in the operative list is a specific role, from integrated behaviour health to disease, diabetes, lactation, HIV and family planning.¹¹ The Schedule also lists the Movement Therapist, including the Art, Dance and Movement Therapist, under Other Care Professionals in the same category.¹¹

What the Act says registration involves

Each State Council maintains an online and live State Allied and Healthcare Professionals' Register, in separate parts for each recognised category.¹³ A person is entitled, on application and payment of the prescribed fee, to have their name entered on it if they reside in the State and hold a recognised allied and healthcare qualification.¹³ A certificate of registration is valid for five years and is renewable.¹³

The Act does more than protect a title. Section 15 provides that no person other than a registered allied and healthcare professional shall hold office as one in Government or a local-authority institution, provide service in any of the recognised categories in any State, or sign a certificate the law reserves to a duly qualified allied and healthcare professional.¹⁴ Section 59 backs the Act's provisions with imprisonment of not less than one year and up to three years, or a fine of not less than one lakh and up to five lakh rupees, or both.¹⁴

Title offences sit alongside that bar. Falsely representing that your name is on a register carries a fine of up to fifty thousand rupees on first conviction, and using the description of an allied and healthcare professional without being registered carries up to one lakh rupees.¹⁴ A registered professional also may not work outside the authorised scope of practice.¹⁴

What is actually operational

Section 15 is a prohibition on unregistered practice, not a rule about titles only, and it has to be read against what is actually in place. The whole Act came into force on 25 May 2021. Section 1(2) allowed a phased commencement and the Government did not use it: notification S.O. 2012(E) appoints that single date for "the provisions of the said Act", with no section held back.²⁶ An interim National Commission followed on 21 September 2021.²⁵ So section 15 is legally live. It is also unenforceable. The registers it turns on have never opened, because the regulations that must govern them were never made, and the Supreme Court has been hearing that failure since 2024.²⁷ Nobody can comply with the bar even if they want to.

What is verifiable. Competency-based curricula for ten allied and healthcare professions were launched by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the Commission, and one of the ten is Applied Psychology and Behavioural Health.¹⁵ The Government records that rollout as a completed reform.¹⁶ Draft Registration of Allied and Healthcare Professionals Regulations were issued for public comment in 2025, under which a professional would register with their State Council and then with the Central Register.¹⁷

What is not established. How many State Councils are constituted is not settled from a government source. The Supreme Court was told fourteen of twenty-eight in 2024, and counsel put ten States and Union Territories still without one in August 2026.²⁷ The draft regulations themselves contemplate States where no State Council has been established.¹⁷

So the accurate statement is neither of the two you will usually be told. It is not true that Indian law is silent here. Parliament named the category and barred unregistered practice in it.¹⁴ That bar reaches the Psychologist by name. It reaches a counsellor only through the specific roles the Schedule lists, so a general counselling practice may sit outside it altogether.¹¹ It is also not true that anyone can obtain the registration the Act contemplates. No register has opened anywhere in India, because the regulations that must govern them have never been made.²⁷ Treat registration as a requirement being built rather than one you can ignore, and ask your State health department or State Council what is currently open.

Until the registration machinery is operational, the qualification carries the weight on its own. Ask a programme how much assessed, supervised client contact is built in and who supervises it; whether its curriculum is aligned to the Commission's Applied Psychology and Behavioural Health standard;¹⁵ and what it claims the qualification entitles you to. A programme saying its master's leads to registration as a Clinical Psychologist is describing something the law does not provide.¹

Psychiatry

Psychiatrists qualify as doctors first, and the medical route is the most tightly specified on this page.

The undergraduate degree

The MBBS academic programme runs four and a half years. The National Medical Commission's curriculum divides it into Phase I of twelve months, Phase II of twelve months, and Phase III of thirty months, split into a twelve-month Part I and an eighteen-month Part II.¹⁸ Psychiatry is taught within Medicine and allied specialties in Phase III Part II.¹⁸

Graduation is not complete at the examination. A student is not deemed to have completed the programme until the rotating internship is done.¹⁹ That internship runs a minimum of twelve months, must be completed within two years of qualifying to start it, and is a precondition of permanent registration to practise medicine in India.²⁰ It includes a mandatory exclusive psychiatry posting of two weeks, predominantly outpatient with exposure to handling emergencies.²⁰

So the undergraduate stage is five and a half years. No student may continue the undergraduate course beyond nine years from admission, and no more than four attempts are allowed at the first professional MBBS examination.¹⁹

Medical registration

Registration is the precondition of practice. Under the National Medical Commission Act 2019, no person other than someone enrolled on a State Register or the National Register may practise medicine as a qualified medical practitioner, hold office as a physician or surgeon, sign a certificate reserved to a duly qualified practitioner, or give expert medical evidence. Contravention carries imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to five lakh rupees, or both.²¹

The Act provides for a National Exit Test, to be held for granting the licence to practise and for enrolment on a register.²¹ Until it becomes operational, a person registered on the Indian Medical Register before the Act came into force is deemed registered under it.²¹ The remaining provisions of the Act were brought into force on 25 September 2020.²¹

Specialist training

Entry to broad speciality training is through NEET-PG, with common counselling for seat allocation.²² Three postgraduate psychiatric qualifications are recognised, and they are not interchangeable.

The diploma route is being wound down. The 2023 regulations allow colleges to convert diploma seats into degree seats, and state that no more new applications will be entertained to start or increase diploma seats.²² If you are choosing now, plan around the degree routes.

The National Board of Examinations sets out what a DNB Psychiatry trainee actually does. On the Board's own figure, residents are posted to psychiatry outpatients and wards for 27 of the 36 months, with the rest of the rotation covering neurology, internal medicine, consultation-liaison and emergency management, a psychiatric hospital or nursing home, clinical psychology, drug de-addiction, child and adolescent psychiatry and community psychiatry.²³ Trainees present at least twenty seminar topics across the three years, and a thesis is required.²³

Super-speciality

Two mental health super-specialities are recognised, each of three years: DM (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) and DM (Geriatric Mental Health).²² Entry is through NEET-SS.²²

How much capacity exists

The Government's own figures give the scale of the system these seats sit in. As at May 2025 there were 23 AIIMS and 2,045 medical colleges in India, comprising 780 allopathy, 323 dental and 942 AYUSH institutions.¹⁶ MBBS seats rose from 51,348 to 1,18,190 and postgraduate seats from 31,185 to 74,306 over the period the release covers.¹⁶

Those are whole-system figures across all specialities, not psychiatry seat counts. We found no current published psychiatry seat matrix we could verify, and we do not publish an estimate in place of one.

Social work, including psychiatric social work

Social work in India has a large education system and no dedicated statutory practice council of its own. Two other statutes reach into it.

The standard sequence is the Bachelor of Social Work, then the Master of Social Work, at University Grants Commission-recognised universities. The MSW is where mental health specialisation happens, most often through medical and psychiatric social work. No national council registers individual social work practitioners, and successive proposals for one have not been enacted.

The psychiatric social worker is a defined statutory role

The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 defines it precisely: a person with a postgraduate degree in Social Work and an M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work, obtained after a full-time two-year course including supervised clinical training, from a Commission-recognised university, or such recognised qualifications as may be prescribed.⁸

That role has a register. Every State Mental Health Authority must register clinical psychologists, mental health nurses and psychiatric social workers in the State to work as mental health professionals, and publish the list.⁹

The same M.Phil problem applies here. The qualification the Act names is one the Commission has discontinued, with admissions permitted only until 2025-26.² The Act's closing words leave room for a successor to be prescribed.⁸ We found none prescribed, and we do not assume one.

Social workers are also named within a recognised category under the allied health statute, whose Schedule names the Clinical Social Worker, the Psychiatric Social Worker and the Medical Social Worker.¹¹ So describing social work practice in India as governed only by professional convention understates the position. Two statutes name it, subject to the implementation caveats in section 4.

Occupational therapy

Occupational therapists work extensively in Indian mental health settings, and the regulatory picture for them changed with the 2021 Act.

Occupational Therapy Professional is category 6 in the Schedule to the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act 2021, with Occupational Therapist as the listed profession.¹² The Act's note describes the Occupational Therapist as able to practise independently or within a multidisciplinary team, with a minimum qualification of a baccalaureate degree.¹²

Occupational therapy is not regulated by the Rehabilitation Council of India as a matter of current national law. The Council's list of rehabilitation professionals covers audiologists and speech therapists, clinical psychologists, hearing aid and ear mould technicians, rehabilitation engineers and technicians, special teachers, vocational counsellors, employment officers and placement officers, and multi-purpose rehabilitation therapists and technicians, together with any further category the Central Government notifies.¹ Occupational therapist is not among them.

That does not erase the Council's historical role in disability-sector rehabilitation training, and the 2021 Act expressly preserves its clinical psychology remit for persons with disabilities.¹¹ But the statutory home of occupational therapy as a profession is the allied health regime, with the same partial-implementation caveats.

The academic route runs from a bachelor's degree in occupational therapy, structured with clinical practice and an internship, to a master's for specialisation. Programme lengths are set by individual universities, so confirm them with the institution rather than assuming a national standard.

Psychiatric and mental health nursing

Nursing has its own register and its own regulator, and the national regulator is in transition.

The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 sets the standard: a mental health nurse is a person with a diploma or degree in general nursing, or in psychiatric nursing, recognised by the national nursing council and registered as such with the relevant nursing council in the State.⁸ The usual academic sequence is a General Nursing and Midwifery diploma or a BSc in Nursing, then an MSc in Nursing with a psychiatric or mental health specialisation.

State registration is what makes the difference in law. Holding the qualification without registering with the State nursing council does not put you on the register the Act refers to.⁸

The regulator is changing

The National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Act 2023 received the assent of the President on 12 August 2023. It provides for the repeal of the Indian Nursing Council Act 1947 and the dissolution of the Indian Nursing Council with effect from a date the Central Government appoints, so neither is automatic on assent.²⁴ It provides for a National Register and State Registers for nursing and midwifery professionals, and a licence to practise.²⁴

Two transitional points matter to anyone qualifying now. A person on the Nurses Register maintained under the 1947 Act before the new Act came into force is deemed registered under it, and qualifications recognised before commencement, listed in the Schedule to the 1947 Act, remain recognised.²⁴

The Act also carries a practice bar. No person other than someone enrolled on the National Register or a State Register may practise nursing or midwifery as a qualified professional, or give expert evidence in court on a nursing or midwifery matter; contravention carries imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to five lakh rupees, or both.²⁴

The Act comes into force on dates the Central Government appoints by notification, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions.²⁴ We did not verify which provisions are in force at the date of writing, including whether the date for the repeal has been appointed. Treat the transition as under way rather than complete, and check with your State nursing council.

Arts, dance and movement therapies

India recognises these therapies in statute and has not yet built the qualification or registration machinery for them.

The Schedule to the 2021 Act lists the Movement Therapist, including the Art, Dance and Movement Therapist and the Recreational Therapist, under Other Care Professionals within category 7.¹¹ That is a recognised category, so the claim that these fields have no regulatory body at all is not accurate.

What does not exist is the rest of it. Applied Psychology and Behavioural Health is among the ten professions for which competency-based curricula have been launched; movement therapy is not.¹⁵ We found no prescribed recognised qualification, no national curriculum and no open register for arts therapies practitioners. That leaves an odd position: the Act bars unregistered practice in a recognised category,¹⁴ and for this category there is as yet no qualification to hold and no register to join.

In practice, training runs through certificate, diploma and postgraduate certificate courses offered by independent institutes and professional associations, and a number of practising arts therapists hold overseas qualifications. Association membership is not statutory registration, and no association can put a practitioner on a government register. Plan this route as an additional specialisation rather than a standalone registrable profession.

Qualifications earned outside India

A foreign qualification does not convert automatically, and each statute handles it differently.

For clinical psychology, the Rehabilitation Council of India Act provides separately for recognition of qualifications granted by institutions outside India.¹ Recognition of the academic qualification and enrolment on the Central Rehabilitation Register are separate questions, and only the second permits practice.¹

For medicine, a citizen of India who qualified abroad may not be enrolled on the National Register, once the National Exit Test becomes operational, unless they pass that test.²¹ A foreign citizen enrolled as a practitioner in their own country may be permitted temporary registration in India.²¹

For nursing, a citizen of India holding a recognised nursing and midwifery qualification obtained abroad is entitled to registration in the manner the regulations specify.²⁴

Under the allied health regime, foreign-qualified professionals would be eligible only after the Commission recognises the qualification and an equivalency evaluation is carried out, according to the draft registration regulations.¹⁷ That is a draft, not a rule in force.

Movement in the other direction is not automatic either. Indian registration confers no standing abroad, and each destination regulator assesses Indian qualifications on its own terms.

Regulation, registers and verification

This page covers what you have to study. Which titles are protected, what happens when someone practises unregistered, and how to check a practitioner against a register are answered in our companion guide, mental health licensing and regulation in India, which sets out the statutory bodies, the Acts behind them, and where to raise a concern.

Choosing a route, and finding a therapist

If you are choosing a training route, four questions narrow it faster than any prospectus.

• Which register are you aiming at? Start from the register, not the degree name. The Central Rehabilitation Register, a State Medical Register, a State nursing register and a State Allied and Healthcare Professionals' Register are four different destinations with four different entry qualifications.
• Is this specific department approved for it? In clinical psychology the approval attaches to the department, with named faculty and a minimum clinical caseload.⁵ Ask for that approval, not for the university's accreditation.
• How much supervised clinical work sits inside the qualification? The RCI-regulated MA is assessed on five psychodiagnostic case reports and five supervised therapy records.⁶ The Board puts a DNB Psychiatry trainee in psychiatry outpatients and wards for 27 of 36 months.²³ Compare programmes on that, not on module lists.
• How long can you fund? Psychiatry runs five and a half years to graduation and three more to the MD or DNB. Clinical psychology runs a four-year bachelor's degree and two more years. That gap is the biggest practical difference between the routes.

If you are looking for a therapist rather than a training route, the qualifications above are the ones to ask about. TherapyRoute is a clinician-run directory, founded by a registered clinical psychologist. Start with our guide on how to find the right therapist.

Last reviewed: August 2026. Jurisdiction: India. Programme details are set by individual universities and change between intakes; confirm with the institution and the relevant statutory body before applying.

Team TherapyRoute

References

1. [1] The Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 (Act No. 34 of 1992). s2(k): recognised rehabilitation qualifications are those in the Schedule. s2(l): the Register is the Central Rehabilitation Register, maintained under s23(1). s2(n) lists the rehabilitation professionals: audiologists and speech therapists, clinical psychologists, hearing aid and ear mould technicians, rehabilitation engineers and technicians, special teachers, "vocational counsellors, employment officers and placement officers dealing with handicapped", multi-purpose rehabilitation therapists and technicians, "or such other category of professionals as the Central Government may, in consultation with the Council, notify from time to time". s11 and s12 govern recognition of qualifications granted in India and outside India. s13: "any qualification included in the Schedule shall be sufficient qualification for enrolment on the Register"; s13(2): "No person, other than the rehabilitation professional who possesses a recognised rehabilitation qualification and is enrolled on the Register" may hold such office, "practice as rehabilitation professional anywhere in India", sign a reserved certificate, or give expert evidence; s13(2A), inserted by Act 38 of 2000: "Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), any person being a doctor or a paramedic in the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopaedics, ear, nose or throat (ENT), ophthalmology or psychiatry, employed or working in any hospital or establishment owned or controlled by the Central Government or a State Government or any other body funded by the Central or a State Government and notified by the Central Government, may discharge the functions referred to in clauses (a) to (d) of that sub-section"; s13(3): contravention carries "imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both". rehabcouncil.nic.in.
2. [2] University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022, notified 7 November 2022: higher educational institutions shall not offer the M.Phil programme, following the National Education Policy 2020. A subsequent Commission public notice, F.No.9-5/2023(PS/Misc.) dated 30 January 2024, extended the validity of the M.Phil in Clinical Psychology and the M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work and permitted admissions until the 2025-26 academic session only. Evidence level: primary. Both documents were read at the Commission's own site. The notice grants the extension "in partial relaxation" of the 2022 Regulations, citing "the vital role played by Clinical Psychologists and Psychiatric Social Workers in delivering mental health services". Regulation 14 of those Regulations reads: "Higher Educational Institutions shall not offer the M.Phil.(Master of Philosophy) programme". The discontinuation is also corroborated at primary source by the Rehabilitation Council of India (ref 3). ugc.gov.in public notice; ugc.gov.in regulations.
3. [3] Rehabilitation Council of India, Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology: RCI Regulated Programme, Guidelines & Syllabus (2025), title page, Preface and Aim: "Effective from Academic Session 2025-26 Two Years Duration (In place of present M.Phil. Clinical Psychology)"; "One of the changes mandated by UGC is to discontinue all M.Phil. programmes inlcluding M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology. It has therefore, necessitated the present programme in place of M.Phil. Clinical Psychology"; "The aim of this programme is to prepare trained Clinical Psychologist to function as an independent clinician, competent to deliver mental, physical and rehabilitative healthcare services." Fetched and read in full this session. rehabcouncil.nic.in.
4. [4] RCI, MA in Clinical Psychology Guidelines & Syllabus (2025), Entry requirement, Admission Procedure and Duration: "Minimum educational requirement for admission to this course will be 4 years B. A./B.Sc. degree in Psychology from a university recognized by the UGC with a minimum of 55% marks in aggregate. For SC/ST category, minimum of 50% marks"; three-year graduates "shall have to pass fourth year Bridge Course or first year of Masters Programme in Psychology"; "The weightage of entrance test shall be 70% whereas the interview will be of 30%"; "This is a fulltime clinical training course ... for 2 academic years." rehabcouncil.nic.in.
5. [5] RCI, MA in Clinical Psychology Guidelines & Syllabus (2025), Requirements to start the programme: an independent Department of Clinical Psychology headed by a senior clinical psychologist at Professor, Additional or Associate Professor level "having valid RCI CRR registration"; "minimum two clinical psychology faculty members on full time basis"; "A minimum turnover of 150 cases ... per month shall be required for an annual intake of FOUR candidates, and there on for every 30 case increase ... the intake shall be increased by ONE candidate"; "at least 50% of the cases shall be undergoing psychological treatment(s) of some form", assessments alone "without therapy interventions are considered suboptimal for professional training in clinical psychology"; extra-institutional postings "shall not exceed three calendar months in an academic year" and require expert supervision. rehabcouncil.nic.in.
6. [6] RCI, MA in Clinical Psychology Guidelines & Syllabus (2025), Scheme of Examination and Psychotherapy Record Submission. Part I (Year 1), 500 marks: three written papers (Psychosocial Foundations of Behavior and Psychopathology; Psychiatry; Statistics and Research Methodology), a viva-voce Practical in Psychological Assessments and Clinical Placement I, and "Submission of five cases of full-length Psycho-diagnostics Report". Part II (Year 2): three written papers (Biological Determinants of Behavior and Neuropsychology; Behavioral Medicine; Psychotherapy and Counseling) and a Practical in Psychological Therapy and Clinical Placement. "Trainees are required to submit a total of five therapy records, one of which should specifically be a child therapy record", each endorsed by the supervisor and carrying the registration number, date first seen and supervising consultant's signature. Dissertation submission requires ethical committee clearance and a plagiarism screening report. rehabcouncil.nic.in.
7. [7] Rehabilitation Council of India, M.Phil. Clinical Psychology: Guidelines & Syllabus, "Effective from Academic Session 2017-18 Two Years Duration" (New Delhi, 2016). rehabcouncil.nic.in.
8. [8] The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (Act No. 10 of 2017), definitions in s2(1); in force 29 May 2018 (S.O. 2173(E)). s2(1)(g), clinical psychologist: a person "(i) having a recognised qualification in Clinical Psychology from an institution approved and recognised, by the Rehabilitation Council of India ... or (ii) having a Post-Graduate degree in Psychology or Clinical Psychology or Applied Psychology and a Master of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology or Medical and Social Psychology obtained after completion of a full time course of two years which includes supervised clinical training" from a UGC-recognised university "approved and recognised by the Rehabilitation Council of India ... or such recognised qualifications as may be prescribed". s2(1)(q), mental health nurse: a person with a diploma or degree in general or psychiatric nursing recognised by the national nursing council "and registered as such with the relevant nursing council in the State". s2(1)(x), psychiatric social worker: "a person having a post-graduate degree in Social Work and a Master of Philosophy in Psychiatric Social Work obtained after completion of a full time course of two years which includes supervised clinical training ... or such recognised qualifications as may be prescribed". See ref 24 on the change of national nursing regulator. prsindia.org.
9. [9] Mental Healthcare Act 2017, s55(1)(d): the State Authority shall "register clinical psychologists, mental health nurses and psychiatric social workers in the State to work as mental health professionals, and publish the list of such registered mental health professionals in such manner as may be specified by regulations by the State Authority". prsindia.org.
10. [10] The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 (Act No. 14 of 2021), assented 28 March 2021, long title: "An Act to provide for regulation and maintenance of standards of education and services by allied and healthcare professionals, assessment of institutions, maintenance of a Central Register and State Register and creation of a system to improve access, research and development and adoption of latest scientific advancement and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto"; s1(2): "It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act"; s2(q): "'recognised categories' means any category of the allied and healthcare professionals specified in the Schedule". thc.nic.in.
11. [11] NCAHP Act 2021, Schedule, category 7 "Community Care, Behavioural Health Sciences and other Professionals". Behavioural Health Sciences Professional entries: "(i) Psychologist (Except Clinical Psychologist covered under RCI for PWD); (ii) Behavioural Analyst; (iii) Integrated Behaviour Health Counsellor; (iv) Health Educator and Counsellors ...; (v) Social workers including Clinical Social Worker, Psychiatric Social Worker, Medical Social Worker; (vi) Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Counsellors or Family Planning Counsellors; (vii) Mental Health Support Workers". Other Care Professionals entries include "Movement Therapist (including Art, Dance and Movement Therapist or Recreational Therapist)". The Act's note states the category "includes professionals such as counsellors, analysts, psychologists, educators and support workers, who provide counselling, therapy and mediation services". thc.nic.in.
12. [12] NCAHP Act 2021, Schedule, category 6 "Occupational Therapy Professional", listed profession "Occupational Therapist". The Act's note: the Occupational Therapist "can practice independently or as a part of a multi-disciplinary team and has a minimum qualification of a baccalaureate degree". thc.nic.in.
13. [13] NCAHP Act 2021, s32: the State Council "shall maintain online and live State Register of persons in separate parts for each of the recognised categories to be known as the State Allied and Healthcare Professionals' Register"; s33(1): a person is entitled, on application and payment of the prescribed fee, "to have his name entered in the State Register if he resides in the State and holds a recognised allied and healthcare qualification"; s33(4): the certificate "shall be valid for a period of five years", with renewal under s35. thc.nic.in.
14. [14] NCAHP Act 2021, s15 (marginal note "Rights of persons who are enrolled on Central Register"): "No person, other than a registered allied and healthcare professional, shall- (a) hold office as an allied and healthcare professional (by whatever name called) in Government or in any institution maintained by a local or other authority; (b) provide service in any of the recognised categories in any State; and (c) be entitled to sign or authenticate any certificate required by any law for the time being in force to be signed or authenticated by a duly qualified allied and healthcare professional." s59: "Whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or any rules or regulations made thereunder shall be punished with imprisonment which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to three years or with fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees but which may extend to five lakh rupees or with both." Chapter VII also creates title offences: s56 (falsely representing entry on a register), fine "which may extend to fifty thousand rupees" on first conviction; s57 (an unregistered person who "takes or uses the description of an allied and healthcare professional", or "uses a degree or a diploma or a license or an abbreviation indicating or implying such qualification" without holding one), fine "which may extend to one lakh rupees" on first conviction. s55 separately restricts a registered professional to the authorised scope of practice. thc.nic.in.
15. [15] Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions, launch of competency-based curricula for ten allied and healthcare professions, 23 April 2025. The ten are Physiotherapy; Applied Psychology and Behavioural Health; Optometry; Nutrition and Dietetics; Dialysis Therapy Technology and Dialysis Therapy; Radiotherapy Technology; Medical Radiology and Imaging Technology; Anaesthesia and Operation Theatre Technology; Health Information Management; and Physician Associates. Evidence level: primary. The list and the date come from the Press Information Bureau release itself, Release ID 2123765, posted "23 APR 2025" and carrying the same date in its own internal reference line. pib.gov.in.
16. [16] Press Information Bureau, Government of India, Affordable and Accessible Healthcare for All, 17 June 2025: "As on May 2025, there are 23 AIIMS and 2,045 medical colleges in India including includes 780 Allopathy, 323 Dental, and 942 AYUSH institutions. MBBS seats increased by 130% (from 51,348 to 1,18,190), while PG seats grew by 138% (from 31,185 to 74,306)"; and "competency-based curricula for 10 allied health professions have been rolled out under the NCAHP". Fetched and read in full this session. pib.gov.in.
17. [17] Draft Registration of Allied and Healthcare Professionals Regulations, 2025, issued by the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions for public comment: a professional would register with their State Council and then with the Central Register and receive a unique identification number; a person resident where "a State Council has not yet been established shall only register with the Central Register"; foreign-qualified professionals would be eligible only after Commission recognition of the qualification and an equivalency evaluation. Evidence level: secondary, and a draft not in force. The Commission's own portal returned HTTP 403 this session. medicaldialogues.in.
18. [18] National Medical Commission, Competency Based Medical Education Curriculum (2024): "The period of 4½ years is divided as follows: i) Phase-I of 12 months ... ii) Phase-II of 12 months ... iii) Phase III - 30 months: a. Phase III Part I (12 months, including University exams) ... b. Phase 3 Part II (18 months, including University exam)", whose subjects include "Medicine and allied specialties (General Medicine, Psychiatry, Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy (DVL))". nmc.org.in.
19. [19] National Medical Commission, Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023, dated 2 June 2023, reg 21: "under no circumstances the student shall be allowed more than four (04) attempts for first year (First Professional MBBS) and no student shall be allowed to continue undergraduate medical course after nine (09) years from the date of admission"; reg 23: a student "shall not be deemed to have completed his graduation until he completes his rotating medical internship as per Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship Regulations, 2021". nmc.org.in.
20. [20] National Medical Commission (Compulsory Rotating Medical Internship) Regulations, 2021, dated 18 November 2021, reg 5 and Schedules I to II: no medical graduate "shall be eligible to permanent registration to practice medicine in India unless he undergoes the compulsory rotating medical internship"; the internship "shall not be less than twelve months" and must be completed within two years of qualifying to pursue it; the posting schedule includes "Mandatory Exclusive Psychiatry 2 weeks, Predominantly Out-patient postings with exposure to handling emergencies". nmc.org.in.
21. [21] The National Medical Commission Act, 2019 (Act No. 30 of 2019). s15(1): "A common final year undergraduate medical examination, to be known as the National Exit Test shall be held for granting licence to practice medicine as medical practitioners and for enrolment in the State Register or the National Register". s33(1) proviso: a person on the Indian Medical Register before the Act came into force and before the Test becomes operational "shall be deemed to have been registered under this Act"; s33(2): a person qualified outside India shall not be enrolled once the Test is operational "unless he qualifies the National Exit Test". s34 (Bar to practice): "No person other than a person who is enrolled in the State Register or the National Register, as the case may be, shall" practice medicine as a qualified medical practitioner, hold office as a physician or surgeon, sign a reserved certificate, or give expert evidence; contravention carries "imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees or with both"; a foreign citizen enrolled in his own country "may be permitted temporary registration in India". Commencement, on a different footing from the quotations above: named sections were brought into force on 2 September 2019 by S.O. 3162(E), and the remainder on 25 September 2020 by S.O. 3262(E). Evidence level: reported, not verified. The Gazette reprint linked here carries the Act as passed and no commencement footnote, and neither notification was read at source, checked 29 August 2026. Treat the two dates as reported rather than verified. thc.nic.in.
22. [22] National Medical Commission, Post-Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023, dated 29 December 2023, s2.1 and Annexures 1 to 3: broad speciality qualifications run "3 Years/ 2 years*", the shorter period applying "for the students, who possess a recognised two-year post-graduate diploma course in the same subject"; super speciality courses run 3 years; postgraduate diploma courses run 2 years, with the note that colleges "may apply to Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) for converting diploma seats to degree seats. No more new applications will be entertained for permission to start or increase in number of diploma seats". Annexure-1 lists MD (Psychiatry); Annexure-2 lists DM (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) and DM (Geriatric Mental Health); Annexure-3 lists "Psychiatry (D.P.M.)". NEET-PG and NEET-SS are defined at s1, and s2.2 sets the curriculum components. nmc.org.in.
23. [23] National Board of Examinations, Guidelines for Competency Based Training Programme in DNB-Psychiatry: "Duration of Course: For Primary candidates (post MBBS): 3 years; For Secondary Candidates (post DPM): 2 years"; admission to the three-year course is "only through Entrance Examination conducted by NBE and Centralized Merit Based Counseling", and to the post-diploma course "through PDCET"; "Each resident is posted to Psychiatry OPD and ward for duration of 27 months out of a total of three years", the rest of the rotation covering neurology, internal medicine, consultation-liaison and emergency management, a psychiatry hospital or nursing home, clinical psychology, drug de-addiction, child and adolescent psychiatry and community psychiatry; "Trainees would be required to present a minimum of 20 topics ... in a period of three years"; a thesis is a required component. nbe.edu.in.
24. [24] The National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Act, 2023 (Act No. 26 of 2023): "The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the President on the 12th August, 2023 and is hereby published for general information", Gazette of India Extraordinary, 14 August 2023. s1(2): "It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different provisions". s56(1): "With effect from such date as the Central Government may appoint in this behalf, the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947 shall stand repealed and the Indian Nursing Council constituted under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the said Act shall stand dissolved" - the repeal and dissolution therefore turn on their own appointed date. On registration: a qualifying person is entered on the National Register or a State Register for Nursing and Midwifery Professionals "and shall be granted a licence to practice"; a person "registered in the Nurses Register maintained under the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947 prior to the coming into force of this Act, shall be deemed to have been registered under this Act"; a citizen of India holding a recognised qualification obtained abroad "shall be entitled for registration under this Act"; qualifications "recognised before the date of commencement of this Act and ... included in the Part I and Part II of the Schedule to the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947, shall also be recognised ... for the purposes of this Act". s27: "No person, other than a person who is enrolled in the National Register or State Register, shall" practice nursing or midwifery as a qualified professional or associate, or give expert evidence in court on such a matter; s27(2): contravention carries "imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees, or with both". Gap: we did not verify which provisions are in force at the date of writing, including whether the s56(1) date has been appointed. prsindia.org.
25. [25] Chinchu C., "Balancing Regulation and Autonomy: NCAHP Act and the Psychology Profession in India", Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine 46(4) (2024) 350-355, doi:10.1177/02537176231179920: "the NCAHP Act, 2021, came into force on 25 May 2021, as notified by the Government of India"; the interim National Commission was notified on 21 September 2021; as at the paper's writing "the regulations for implementing the various provisions in the act were yet to be published". The paper also records that titles in common use, such as counselling psychologist and school psychologist, are not among those the Act lists. Evidence level: a peer-reviewed paper reporting a gazette notification. The notification itself is cited at ref 26. journals.sagepub.com.
26. [26] Ministry of Health and Family Welfare notification S.O. 2012(E), dated 25 May 2021, Gazette of India Extraordinary Part II Section 3 Sub-section (ii) No. 1875 (CG-DL-E-25052021-227165), F. No. Z-28016/01/2020-AHS: "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 1 of the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 (14 of 2021), the Central Government, hereby appoints the 25th May, 2021, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force." The notification names no excepted provision. Evidence level: primary. Read in a Gazette PDF reproduced by a government host, and cross-checked against a second independent copy of the Act. thc.nic.in.
27. [27] On the registers not being open, and the regulations not being made: Joint Forum of Medical Technologists of India v Union of India, W.P.(C) No. 983/2023, in which the Supreme Court directed the Centre and the States to take steps to implement the Act, and was told that fourteen of twenty-eight States had constituted a State Council (August 2024); Federation of Self Financing Technical Institutions v Union of India, W.P.(C) No. 972/2026, notice issued on a plea to frame the regulations, with ten States and Union Territories then still without a Council on counsel's submission, six of them named: Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Puducherry, Ladakh and Lakshadweep (August 2026); and contempt notices to the Centre and the States over non-implementation (February 2026). A State Allied and Healthcare Council notice of January 2026 describes registration as due to commence rather than open. Evidence level: secondary. Court reporting and a State Council notice, not the Commission's own portal, which returned HTTP 403 to every request we could make. livelaw.in (2024); livelaw.in (2026); kashmirreader.com.