Introduction

A collective human endeavor opened a secured door of a protected shelter for the persons with mental retardation in the name of Bodhi Peet (Seat of Intellect) at Birati in West Bengal, India on 15^th June, 1951.

Bodhi Peet is a voluntary, non-Governmental, residential social-welfare organization exclusively meant for the training, welfare and rehabilitation of the orphan mentally retarded persons irrespective of age, genders, religion, caste or creed. Perhaps it is the first institution of this kind in the eastern India which has been established under the auspices of the Calcutta Association for Mental Health and now registered under the societies Registration Act XXVI of 1961.

A group of eminent psychologists and Psychiatrists of Calcutta of that time noticed that a prominent segment of our society has been over looked in every sphere of human existence since ages. The segment is called “Persons with Mental Retardation” who are not that much capable of doing the usual day-to-day activities properly for themselves. Therefore, their mission was to challenge the discriminations and exclusion by proving opportunities for the persons with low levels of mental faculties to live work and learn independently.

It has been seen that sometimes people has no conception or misconception regarding mental retardation. Basically, mental retardation is not a disease, rather is “Abnormal intellectual functioning which originating during developmental period and is associated with impairment of either learning and social adjustment or maturation or both” (according to Diagnostic Statistical Manual-II).Therefore, it is incomplete mental development .Persons with mental retardation are those whose normal intellectual growth is arrested at somehow before birth, during birth process or in the early years. And their sub-normal intellectual functioning capacities are manifested in the behaviors and their personal as well as social life is affected accordingly. Mainly, mal-nutrition, brain damage, kidney disorder, alcohol syndrome, accidents etc of the mother during her pregnancy period, pre-mature delivery and childhood infection, mal-nutrition, sensory and social deprivation etc. of the new born (that is the period of post delivery) are the underlining causes of mental retardation.

It is our fortune and pride that Prof. Girindrashekhar Basu, one of the pioneering figures in the field of Psychology is one of the founder members of our organization who over looked the various barriers and monetary crisis of that time and established the organization with the help of the other eminent Psychologists and Psychiatrist like S.C.Bisi, S.P.Ghosh, C.C.Bhattacharyya etc. of that time.

Anyway, the first Governing Body of the organization was constituted by the following members. Unfortunately all of them are not alive any more to guide.